Stardust VII, Study

New detailed study available Sunday morning on EveryDayOriginal.com

"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff."

This quote from Carl Sagan represents one of the most poetic truths of our scientific reality. That heavy elements that we are made of weren't created at the beginning of time. Only hydrogen and helium came out of the Big Bang. The rest of the elements were created in the nuclear furnaces of earlier generations of stars that have since exploded and spread their material across the universe. We are literally made of stardust.

Detailed Study
Oil on Panel
8 x 6 inches

Detail

Painting A Galaxy Within

A time-lapse that I've slowed down in a few places so you can see some of the marks go down, and see that they don't always go down the way I want them to on the first try.

This has been available on my Patreon for a while but I'm releasing it to the wild and adding a new video there: Painting the Face of Inertia.

 

A Galaxy Within

We are each a little galaxy of our own. It's a mind-bending exercise trying to comprehend the 100 billion stars found in a typical galaxy. Yet, each of us has roughly the same number of neurons in our own brain, performing a symphony of consciousness. Similar too, is the number of atoms that write out our DNA code. We are a staggeringly complex and unique collection of natural components, come together for a short, precious moment. 

Large numbers are difficult to fathom, but to be disappointed in the realization that we are "just" collections of atoms moving in accordance with the laws of physics, is to misunderstand the depth of this astonishing complexity, and the billions of years it took to evolve.

"We are the miracle, we human beings. Not a break-the-laws-of-physics kind of miracle; a miracle in that it is wondrous and amazing how such complex, aware, creative, caring creatures could have arisen in perfect accordance with those laws [of nature] … Our emergence has brought meaning and mattering into the world ... It bequeaths to us the responsibility and opportunity to make life into what we would have it be." 

-Sean Carroll, The Big Picture

Bioluminescence : Tenacity

The light of life and the natural world. Of all the vastness of space, as of yet, we know of only one planet that supports life. At least within some great distance from here, life is rare. Each organism being the exquisite and detailed product of billions of years of evolution, life is precious. The process of science has revealed a luminous, living planet, more intricate and amazing than we could have ever imagined. Let us embrace the light of life in everyone, kindled over billions of years, and combine our efforts to light a brilliant future. 

Oil, 8 x 10 inches

Sold in my Rehs Gallery show last fall. 

Prints: https://robrey.storenvy.com

Ten Mile Range

Earth Day, every day.

A landscape sold in January at my show with Abend Gallery. I felt like painting some clouds when I did this one.

Oil, 16 x 20 inches

Detail

Moonlight

A tiny piece from a group of commissions I did last year.

Oil, 4 x 6 inches

 

Cosmic Awareness

“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself”

-Carl Sagan


We are part of this universe, not simply within it. We are products of nearly 14 billion years of evolution from an incredibly hot and dense beginning. First, simple atoms of hydrogen and helium had to form as space expanded and cooled. Before a planet could evolve life, these simple atoms had to form stars that would fuse heavier elements. These stars had to burn out in violent explosions that would seed new solar systems like ours with the elements necessary for life. After more than 9 billion years of cosmic evolution, our planet formed and began to evolve life. In this little corner at least, we are the first pieces of the universe with the ability to look out at the night sky and understand it. We are the universe coming to know itself.

Available tomorrow on Every Day Original

Detailed Study, 8 x 6 inches, Oil on Panel

Nebular Nook

This new painting, from an earlier study, has been accepted to show next month in the Oil Painters of America's annual National Juried Exhibition!

In the nebulous dust of deceased giants, new stars are born. Stretching out their new solar winds, these young stars carve out a space for themselves in the dust, just a few million years old.

How many human generations is a million years? It would be approximately 40,000 generations, yet homo sapiens has only existed for less than a third of that time, about 12,000 generations.

Oil, 24 x 16 inches

Study of Nature

My next small painting available on Every Day Original tomorrow morning.


"The scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do so. He studies it because he takes pleasure in it, and he takes pleasure in it because it is beautiful."
- Henri Poincaré, Science and Method

Oil, 6 x 8 inches

Overview

My Online Solo Show with Abend Gallery is now live! The show includes this new painting of the Earth titled, "Overview".

The Overview Effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space.

The Earth is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish, and the conflicts that divide people become less important, encouraging a sense of unity with all of humanity and life on Earth. The need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this planet becomes both obvious and imperative.



“When we look down at the earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile … Anybody else who’s ever gone to space says the same thing because it really is striking and it’s really sobering to see this paper-thin layer and to realize that that little paper-thin layer is all that protects every living thing on Earth from death, basically. From the harshness of space.”


-Ron Garan, Astronaut

For more about the Overview Effect check out the short film.

Oil, 24 x 24 inches

 

Bioluminescence : Curiosity

One of the pieces that sold in my group show, Taking Flight, at Rehs Contemporary last month.

The light of life and the natural world. Of all the vastness of space, as of yet, we know of only one planet that supports life. At least within some great distance from here, life is rare. Each organism being the exquisite and detailed product of billions of years of evolution, life is precious. This point of light and inspiration stands in contrast to the lanterns and lights that are historically thought to be sources of illumination but are now dimmed; mythologies and superstitions humans have created as we struggled in the dark of ignorance to understand our world. But the process of science has revealed a luminous, living planet, more intricate and amazing than we could have ever imagined. Let us embrace the light of life in everyone, kindled over billions of years, and combine our efforts to light a brilliant future.

A print would make a great gift as we celebrate light in these dark winter months 😉

Oil, 16 x 12 inches

Oasis

A new painting from a study I posted earlier this year. The "Overview Effect" is a term used to describe a psychological shift common among those who have traveled to space. Seeing the whole Earth from a distance has a tendency to realign ones feeling and priorities in profound ways. If you have a few minutes, Overview, is a great short film on the subject.


"From that distance, my thumb fit over the entire Earth. I realized how insignificant we all are if everything I'd ever known is behind my thumb. When you see Earth from the moon, you realize how fragile it is and just how limited the resources are. We're all astronauts on this spaceship Earth and we have to work and live together.”

- Astronaut Jim Lovell


“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena... In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand... the only home we've ever known.”

- Carl Sagan, The Pale Blue Dot

Oil, 24 x 18 inches

Fusion Lighting the Stars

Painted for the upcoming 'Midnight Garden' show, curated by Beautiful Bizarre Magazine at Modern Eden Gallery, opening October 24th!

Also, watch for the color study to this painting on Every Day Original, Tuesday.

___

Stars are continuous nuclear explosions! Not simply fixed masses of hot gas, stars are a balance of two enormous forces: gravity and nuclear fusion. On its own, gravity would crush a star into the oblivion of a black hole or other super-dense entity. But nuclear fusion pushes back, releasing so much energy that the outer layers of the star are literally blown away, aloft from the core, and in equilibrium with gravity. From lightyears away, these cataclysmic explosions flutter as faint candles in our night sky.


Stars live a looong time, billions of years, but eventually the fuel of fusion runs out and gravity prevails. In the span of the universe, stars exist as temporary states of matter that will one day transition into other things. Much of their mass will be crushed. But in the process, many will fuse carbon, the other elements of life, and form planetary nebula. Later, these nebula will condense into new solar systems, and perhaps be part of some other temporary state of matter lucky enough to be able think about it.

Oil, 18 x 24 inches

Detail

Bioluminescence : Altruism

Another piece for my seven person, bird themed show, in partnership with the Art Renewal Center opening Thursday at Rehs Contemporary Galleries, Inc in New York City!

The light of life and the natural world. Of all the vastness of space, as of yet, we know of only one planet that supports life. At least within some great distance from here, life is rare. Each organism being the exquisite and detailed product of billions of years of evolution, life is precious. The process of science has revealed a luminous, living planet, more intricate and amazing than we could have ever imagined. Let us embrace the light of life in everyone, kindled over billions of years, and combine our efforts to light a brilliant future. 

Prints Available Here

Oil, 16 x 12 inches

Bioluminescence : Question, Hypothesis, Experiment

Part of a seven person group show at Rehs Contemporary next month in NYC, this painting was featured in Forbes last week! The show is a collection of bird themed works by artists who received the Rehs Contemporary Gallery Award in last year's Art Renewal Center Salon. 

The light of life and the natural world. Of all the vastness of space, as of yet, we know of only one planet that supports life. At least within some great distance from here, life is rare. Each organism being the exquisite and detailed product of billions of years of evolution, life is precious. This point of light and inspiration stands in contrast to the lanterns and lights that are historically thought to be sources of illumination but are now dimmed; mythologies and superstitions humans have created as we struggled in the dark of ignorance to understand our world. But the process of science has revealed a luminous, living planet, more intricate and amazing than we could have ever imagined. Let us embrace the light of life in everyone, kindled over billions of years, and combine our efforts to light a brilliant future.

Oil, 30 x 20 inches

Detail

 

Figure Study

Life study from pre-covid times. I haven't been able to do many of these lately.

Original available here.

Oil, 16 x 12 Inches

Also, there's new text and design on the "About" page of the main website. Check it out if you want to hear a little of what my work is about.

...And Cassini is now showing in the Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition! The online show is up until September 12th. It's a great looking show!

Cassini, Oil, 18x 24 inches