The expansive sky is the prominent feature of this image, emphasizing an often over-looked feature of nature. The bright turquoise sky, streaked with lavender hues and highlighted with a single orange ribbon across the horizon, glows with the freshness of a clear dawn. The delicate whiffs of white cloud gracefully light upon the wind. As the sun steadily rises, the shadow retreats from the Vermillion Cliffs leaving them in the warmth of the morning sunlight. Whereas the sky is often auxiliary in picturesque representations of nature, this image puts the heavens at the center of beauty. This does not at all diminish the cliffs, but restricting them to the bottom of the image places them as an adagio in the greater symphony.