A heavily manipulated Long's Peak sunrise image

Jeff Lawson's "Hazy Long's Peak" image got me to thinking about one I had tucked away. This image is more on the photo art side of things. I really liked the texture in the sky, but it wasn't very colorful, so I decided to really push the saturation and contrast. I also cloned out a post and grain silo. I'm just curious what folks think about these sort of images.
Thanks for any comments.
20D, 70-200 f/4L
http://paulwegemann.smugmug.com/gallery/4046721/1/236973407/Large

Paul, that has a very nice tranquil, painterly quality with a certain "energy" to it. I like it for the same reasons you express. I have a few that I have pushed the limits to bring out certain elements. One was entered in a juried photo show. One of the jurors rejected it because he thought it was overdone. The curator of the gallery over rode him and it was accepted into the show. I think that is what turns a photograpgh into "fine art". If we as photographers capture the "eye of the beholder" then I think we have succeeded. I say nice job!
JK

Totally looks like a painting. I wouldn't sell it as anything other than that, but it is beautiful, regardless of how it got that way.

I like it. Very ethereal with a dynamic feel. I like the colors too. I think there is plenty of room for artistic expression in what we do. Not everything has to be photorealistic. But as Todd mentions, we have to be careful how we represent things.
Nice.

Todd, Kalin - I agree. Paul's question caused me to do a little research. The lines get rather blurred here. Clearly it looks like a painting but clearly it is a photography based work. Hence the term "photo art" is used. Can this also be "fine art"? This discussion goes back to the early 1930's and the Group f64 of Adams early days regarding "straight photograpy vs the fuzzy "Salon" photos of the day. Time to write a paper I guess! Here is an interesting link that is more or less related by Lucian Niemeyer from Nov of 1998.
http://www.lnsart.com/fine_art_commentary.htm
JK

I like this Paul. Looks like it was taken from near Saint Vrain State Park. It probably qualifies as "photo art" but it is cool no matter how you classify it. The only thing that jumps out at me is that the darkening of the blues of the peaks looks a little splotchy, as if sections of this part of the image were burned more than others. In a way that makes it look hazier and more mysterious, but it might be a bit distracting too.

Thanks very much for the feedback, guys. John, thanks for the link to the interesting read.