Doesn't take brilliance, or even much talent to make something like this - just practice, a lot of practice.
If you want to develop your skills, I'd recommend checking this out;
[link]This particular piece relied heavily on fractals made in the free software apohysis - which were twirled using the twirl filter in photoshop - which were than over painted using assorted brushes. I probably threw in a couple of stock pictures of clouds and textures in there too to spice it up.
Got any questions and need any tips and hints just give me a shout