Thanks, Dave.
As several people have suggested that the grain is a little too much, here's the version without any grain:
The Myth of Sisyphus by
DrHWest, on Flickr
And, for the purposes of comparison, here's the version with text but which also shows the texture I had on the sky for a couple of versions:
Sisyphus text by
DrHWest, on Flickr
I was never happy enough with the text to finish the work on it, so it's not been blended in properly and is just sitting there. In the end, I decided the image was strong enough without any words.
For anyone wondering about the text, it's from the absurdist philosopher Camus, who used the myth of Sisypus to point out that if life has no meaning, then the work we do because we choose to do it gives life meaning - in short, Sisyphus is smiling.
"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
-Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, 1942