rotate an image

I also dont get exactly what you mean. Maybe you want to rotate the image by processing the image matrix itself? For example if you need 90 degress rotation you can do this by changing the row->collumt the matrix corresponding to the image:
(W, H: old image size)
(array: image matrix)
(array2: new rotated image)

array2 = new int[W*H]; // same total size
for (int i=0; i< H; i++)
for (int j=0; j< W; j++)
array2[j*H + i] = array[i*W + j];

Image img2 = createImage(new MemoryImageSource(H, W, array2, 0, H));
....

You were going at it wrong - Toolkit is not what you want. The Java Tutorial explains just how to do it: Creating and Drawing to an Image (http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/2d/images/drawonimage.html).

Here's a piece of code I just hacked up that rotates an image 90 degrees clockwise - I'm not sure it's exactly right, but it seems to work:// load image from file
BufferedImage original = ImageIO.read(new File("I:\\Photos\\Air Plants\\IMGP0140.JPG"));

// create another image to draw it on
BufferedImage rotated = new BufferedImage(original.getWidth(), original.getHeight(), Image.SCALE_SMOOTH);

// create graphics to transform
Graphics2D g2d = rotated.createGraphics();

// set a rotate transform of 90 degrees about middle
g2d.rotate(1.57, original.getWidth()/2D, original.getHeight()/2D);

// draw original image rotated into new image
g2d.drawImage(original, 0,0, null);

... // do something with new image 'rotated'.NOTE: exception handling omitted for clarity.

Example isn't another way to teach. It is the only way to teach...
A. Einstein