Blue Bower II

On view now at Abend Gallery, in my three-person show, "Storytellers."

Lucky are we to find ourselves nestled in such a comfortable nook of the cosmos. We have evolved, of course, to fit this planet like a glove. Yet for that evolution to take place, a multitude of serendipitous circumstances were necessary. It is possible we owe a debt to the vastness of our universe, which has created such statistical possibilities. From our planet's protective magnetosphere and temperature, balanced in the range of liquid water, to our Sun's stable size and Jupiter's gravitational deflection of hazardous debris, we are privileged to occupy so tufted a nest. It may be the only soft spot such fragile and short-lived biological creatures as we, will ever be capable of reaching – a precious thing, this beautiful blue bower.

Oil, 24 x 30 in

Detail

Detail

Three-Person Exhibition

Coming up in just over two weeks! Opening February 2nd at Abend Gallery, I'll be showing with Mary Chiaramonte and Dana Hawk. Until then, I'll be sharing some detail images of my paintings for the show...

Detail Image

In other news, I found out right before the holidays that Bioluminescence IV received First Place in the Oil Painters of America Fall Online Showcase, Signature Member Division! Truly honored. A big thank you to the judge and the OPA. Check out all the excellent winners here.

Observation II Study

Up on Every Day Original tomorrow morning! This is a study from an older painting which I recently revisited for an experiment in what could have been.

"When he [Johannes Kepler] found that his long cherished beliefs did not agree with the most precise observations, he accepted the uncomfortable facts, he preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions. That is the heart of science."
-Carl Sagan

Oil, 8 x10 inches

Reference for the background of this piece was collected while visiting the telescope in the 127 year old Ladd Observatory, in Providence RI.

The Face of Cassini

A new video documenting the painting process of Cassini. The satellite dish in her hair was a last minute addition that you can see me pencil in at the beginning of the video. I then added a flower later because the dish looked lonely on it's own. Full image on my website.

About Cassini:

In our pursuit to understand the solar system we find ourselves in, we sent an explorer on a billion mile journey to the Saturnian system. The Cassini Spacecraft sent back amazing new data and images of Saturn and it's 62 known moons, 46 of which were unknown when Cassini left. We learned that the moon, Enceladus, may have everything it needs to support life deep in it's global ocean, Titan has a liquid methane sea, and so much more.

Last year, low on fuel after twenty years in space and so much information gained, Cassini took several dives between Saturn and it's rings to learn a little more before it's mission came to an end. To avoid possible microbial contamination of any of Saturn's moons, Cassini dove and burned up in Saturn's atmosphere, while sending back it's final data.

Email subscribers: Sorry, videos don't seem to get included in emails, watch here.

Starswept

A little starscape for Abend Gallery's 28th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show opening this Saturday.

Starswept, Oil, 8 x 10 inches

Earlier this month, I had a great time exhibiting at Illuxcon, the best convention for imaginative realism. It was full of great people and great conversations! It was extra awesome this year to have my image on the program cover, and other show materials.

And finally, here are some Detail shots of my last completed painting, Hubble:

Hubble Deep Field

Since it’s launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has produced some of the most spectacular images of our universe. In 1995, the spirit of discovery led the Hubble team to point the telescope at the darkest patch of sky they could find, not knowing if they would see anything at all. In that patch of sky, the size of a pinhead at arms length, the Hubble Deep Field observation revealed 3,000 galaxies stretched out to distances of up to 13 billion lightyears. Since looking deep into space is also looking deep into the history of the universe (when the light left it's source), the observation was our first nearly complete view of the entire history of the universe in one image. Hubble’s observations narrowed our knowledge of the age of our universe to a decimal point of accuracy (from a range of 10-20 billion years down to 13.7 billion) and brought us that much closer to understanding where we sit in this vast and beautiful space-time.

Oil, 18 x 24 inches

More about the Hubble Deep Field observation:

Take a look at the Hubble Deep Field Observation here or check out other Hubble images.

Cassini

In our pursuit to understand the solar system we find ourselves in, we sent an explorer to the Saturnian system. The Cassini Spacecraft sent back amazing new data and images of Saturn and it’s 62 known moons, 46 of which were unknown when it left. We learned that the moon, Enceladus, may have everything it needs to support life deep in it’s global ocean, Titan has a liquid methane sea, and so much more.

Last year, low on fuel after twenty years in space and so much information gained, Cassini took several dives between Saturn and it’s rings to learn a little more before it’s mission came to an end. To avoid possible microbial contamination of any of Saturn’s moons, Cassini dove and burned up in Saturn’s atmosphere, while sending back it’s final data.

Oil, 18 x 24 inches

This video explains more of Cassini’s accomplishments: 

And final dive:

Best of Show!

Bioluminescence IV picked up Best of Show in the August BoldBrush painting competition! A big thank you to BoldBrush and juror, Mark Lague. Check out the other winners here.

Bioluminescence IV, Oil, 18 x 24 inches

And here are a few peeks of a new painting coming soon! Stay tuned...

Studies

A few studies. I went a little crazy with the color on this first one at a live session, but I think it worked out. It's been added to the available works at robreyfineart.com.

Oil, 12 x 16 inches

I've been wanting to get reacquainted with graphite and charcoal recently so I played around with some graphite last week and this is what happened.

Graphite, 9 x 12 ish

Auction Ending!

There are less than 24 hours left in the auction for Blue Bower, or at Every Day Original! 

Due to a glitch, there has been some discrepancy in the ending time on the auction page for those not in the eastern time zone, but the countdown is correct and the auction ends at Noon EST, tomorrow 8/22/18.

Here are a few more views of the painting in progress:

And another video:

Blue Bower

The auction for this painting is live on Every Day Original!

Lucky are we to find ourselves nestled in such a comfortable nook of the cosmos. We have evolved, of course, to fit this planet like a glove. Yet for that evolution to take place, a multitude of serendipitous circumstances were necessary. It is possible we owe a debt to the vastness of our universe, which has created such statistical possibilities. From our planet's protective magnetosphere and temperature, balanced in the range of liquid water, to our Sun's stable size and Jupiter's gravitational deflection of hazardous debris, we are privileged to occupy so tufted a nest. It may be the only soft spot such fragile and short-lived biological creatures as we, will ever be capable of reaching – a precious thing, this beautiful blue bower.

Oil, 12 x16 inches

Here are a few videos of the painting process:

Upcoming Auction on EDO

I've been working on a new piece for Every Day Original's next auction, starting August 15th. Here are a few peaks:

Detail image

Sketching out the preliminary drawing

Gravitational Waves

A newly completed this commission for IX Arts, which will be on display at the IX show in October. The allegorical image of merging black holes is a poetic representation of recently observed waves of gravity.

Since our ancestors first looked up at the stars, everything we've observed of the universe has come in the form of light: electromagnetic waves. In the last century we've learned everything we know from looking at every part of the electromagnetic spectrum and analyzing that light. For the first time in 2015, humans observed energy arriving at earth of a different sort than electromagnetic light.

1.4 billion years ago, two black holes spiraled around each other and merged, releasing three solar masses of energy in the form of gravitational waves, literal stretching and squashing of space. If you had been nearby the waves could have squeezed you to spaghetti, but when they spread out and passed through earth in 2015 we detected those waves, dissipated to less than the width of an atomic nucleus. Our whole lives, these waves have periodically passed right through us, unnoticed, but now humanity has gained the eyes to see them.

Oil, 30 x 30 inches

More about Gravitational Waves

Deep Sleep

Nestled in our comfy spot amongst the stars. This small study for a larger painting will be available on Every Day Original tomorrow morning!

Oil Study, 6 x 8 inches

OPA Demo

I'm excited to be giving a painting demonstration at the Oil Painters of America National Convention in Steamboat Springs, CO, on June 3rd!

The OPA National Juried Exhibition is always a great show and I'm pleased to have "Magnificent Universe" selected to participate in this year's exhibition. Come see the show and watch me paint!

Magnificent Universe, Oil, 18 x 24 inches