This is my first digital painting attempt...It was created entirely with Photoshop. It took about 20 hours at a guess. The initial concept came from a book titled "A Poem on the Life of the Buddha" by Grevel Lindop. I chose a particular passage as a starting point - this was:

"In the rocks shade
Or under the liquid blaze of stars he made
An art of stilling the breath, distilling the thin
Mountain air to a radiant essence within
The guant, scarred body, mind poised like a hawk
Riding clear airs of thought, hearing gods talk
Sometimes, or merging with silence"

Reference material included my own face for the pose and various pictures of 'sadhus' (a kind of Indian ascetic) and of the milkyway from google - although the actual portrait is completely a work of the imagination. Any constructive criticism is most welcome and thanks for looking!