#cosmicperspective
Cassini, an allegory from 2018
Oil, 18 x 24 in
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.
In 2017, 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.
Prints:https://robrey.storenvy.com
#cassini #cassinispacecraft #saturn #cosmicperspective #cosmos #spaceart #scienceart #sciart
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Available Monday morning on @everydayorig
Song of the Universe Detailed Study, 8 x 6 inches
One voice sings, “Nothing matters.” We are insignificant specks on a speck in a vast uncaring cosmos. When our sun burns out, billions of years from now, it may be entirely inconsequential what happened on our home speck. A melancholy chord, but it also makes problems feel small and helps us to reevaluate how we spend our time. A reminder to live more in the present moment, rather than always fretting the future.
The other voice incants, “Everything matters!” We are here, now, wrapped in the real experience of our joy and suffering, enmeshed in a web of relations with all life on earth. Everything that we do has consequences that will be experienced by our fellow beings. There is profound purpose to be pursued in the improvement of life for ourselves and others. A melody of unity and goodwill.
Different though they seem, each voice tempers the other and blends in a bittersweet, harmonized hymn: a song of Cosmic Perspective.
#cosmicperspective #cosmos #oilpainting #figurepainting #figurativeart #spaceart #humanist #overvieweffect #scientificpantheism #spiritualnaturalism #everydayoriginal
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Solar panels, or altars to our sun, securing the favor of our source? The magic is in how you look at it. In what ways do you enchant the mundane in your life?
Source
Oil, 18 x 24 in, 2016
For thousands of years, multitudes of agricultural societies have worshiped this bringer of light and warmth. They knew it’s critical role in growing their life-sustaining crops, though it probably have seemed like magic.
Our sun is the engine that powers our solar system. With slight exception, all the energy we use came from this star. Temperature variations on the earth’s surface drive the winds. For billions of years, organisms have been photosynthesizing it’s light and storing the energy that we now use as fossil fuels. Our atmosphere traps the sun’s heat and keeps us from freezing to unlivable temperatures every night. We have evolved in a stable balance of atmospheric insulation, but now, as we burn billions of years of stored solar energy, we risk breaking that balance. Luckily, we have found the technology to directly harness the sun’s energy without altering our atmosphere. It may seem like magic, but all we have to do is make broad use of these intricately patterned panels by laying them out to absorb the light of our source.
Prints through link in bio.
#cosmicperspective #figurepainting #oilpainting #spaceart #scienceart #sciart #humanist #cosmos #scientificpantheism #atheopagan #spiritualnaturalism
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Allegory of Nature , 8x6 inch study, 2017
Having a scientific world-view doesn’t mean giving up feelings of mystery, magic, and awe. If understanding more about the world makes you feel it’s boring, you may need to rethink how you approach it. Do you have a “phone” in your pocket, or a magical device crafted by electrical wizards that gives you the power to summon most of human knowledge in moments? The magic is in how you look at it.
“I’m just looking to find out more about the world. And if it turns out that there is a simple ultimate law that explains everything, so be it. That would be very nice to discover. If it turns out it’s like an onion with millions of layers and we’re just sick and tired of looking at the layers, then that’s the way it is. But whatever way it comes out, nature is there and she’s going to come out the way she is.”
- Richard Feynman
Prints through link in bio.
#cosmicperspective #feynman #oilpainting #portraitpainting #feynmanism #scienceart #sciart
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Reaching Europa
Oil, 18 x 24 inches, 2015
One of the first paintings from the Cosmic Perspective series. It doesn’t happen often, but this image came to me in a sudden flash, and it set the whole project in motion.
“The nature of life on earth and the quest for life elsewhere are the two sides of the same question: the search for who we are.”
-Carl Sagan
An allegory of our scientific aspirations to explore Jupiter’s moon, Europa, which holds intriguing possibilites for finding life.
Prints through link in bio
Original Sold
#cosmicperspective #figurepainting #figurativeart #figurativepainting #jupiter #europa #europaclipper #spaceart
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New detailed study, 8 x 6 inches, tomorrow morning @everydayorig
“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 the heavy elements that we are made of weren’t created at the beginning of time. Only hydrogen and helium were immediate results 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.
#cosmicperspective #starstuff #stardust #spaceart #scienceart #carlsagan #cosmos #oilpainting #nebula #everydayoriginal
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Detail of a new study going up Sunday Morning on @everydayorig
#everydayoriginal #starstuff #stardust #spaceart #cosmicperspective
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Paintng A Galaxy Within - Oil, 24 x 18 inches. I’ve slowed down the timelapse 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.https://www.patreon.com/robrey
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A Galaxy WithinWe 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
Prints:https://robrey.storenvy.com
Remember back in 2015, when the New Horizons spacecraft showed us what Pluto looks like for the first time ever? That was cool.
Pluto Unveiled
Oil, 12 x 16 inches, 2016
It takes light 8 minutes to reach Earth from the sun, but 4.6 hours to reach Pluto from Earth.
Prints through link in bio.
#newhorizons #pluto #cosmicperspective #oilpainting #figureativeart #figurativepainting #spaceart #scienceart #sciart #cosmos
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Bioluminescence : Tenacity
Oil, 8 x 10 inches
Sold in my Rehs Gallery show last fall.
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 through link in bio.
#cosmicperspective #bioluminescence #oilpainting #scienceart #bird
https://www.instagram.com/p/COQVtgwlbXb/?igshid=1ktc5g6ofik25
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Stardust VI
Oil, 16 x 20 in
“When I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us… Many people feel small… But I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.“
"There is a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life. You want to feel connected. You want to feel relevant. You want to feel like you’re participant in the goings on of activities and events around you. That’s precisely what we are just by being alive.”
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
Prints and Original through link in bio.
#starstuff #stardust #cosmicperspective #oilpainting
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Observation, an older piece form the Cosmic Perspective series.
Science is more than a body of knowledge, it’s a way of thinking.
We used to think we could understand the world simply by thinking about it, that what made sense to us must be true. But, Observation showed us that the universe often does not conform to our expectations or desires. It doesn’t matter how beautiful a theory is, who came up with it, or how much we wish something to be true. We have to look at how the universe really works, and in science, Observation has the final say.
The scientific method has pulled humanity out of dangerous superstitions and entrenched ideologies. It has allowed us to find real solutions to the problems we face. Observation leads the way. We may not always like what we see, but if we accept it with humility, we will find progress.
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#scienceart #sciart #scientificmethod #figurepainting #figurativeart #allegory #cosmicperspective #cosmos #carlsagan #humanist
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Cosmic Awareness
8 x 6 inches, Detailed study
Available tomorrow on @everydayorig
“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.
#sagan #cosmicperspective #moon #earth #overvieweffect #figurepainting #spaceart #scienceart #sciart #figurativeart #starstuff
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Nebular Nook
Oil, 24 x 16 inches
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.
Prints through link in bio.
#cosmicperspective #deeptime #stars #astronomy #sciart #scienceart #cosmos #figurepainting #oilpainting #spaceart #boldbrush
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMP42H0Fjpa/?igshid=a8se9ijyjku5
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Fathom - from 2016
Oil, 20 x 24 inches
The vast depth of space and the multitude of stars, worlds, and galaxies is nearly impossible for our minds to fathom, but it’s an awakening experience to attempt. Traveling at the speed of light, it would take 100,000 years to cross just our one galaxy.
Prints through link in bio
#cosmicperspective #cosmos #spaceart #scienceart #universe #galaxy #stars #space #painting #figurepainting #artwork #oilpainting #artnouveau #astronomy #overvieweffect #humanism
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKNysUFUJr/?igshid=15xz2ow9ub87t
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Some detail images of Overview
Oil, 24 x 24 inches
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. 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
Prints through link in bio
#overvieweffect #earth #cosmicperspective #cosmos #palebluedot #bluemarble #humanist #spaceart #scienceart #humanism
https://www.instagram.com/p/CK1k6iuldI1/?igshid=jr1muoq2uw89
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My next small painting available on @everydayorig tomorrow morning! 6 x 8 in.
“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
#smallworks #painting #paintingstudy #figurepainting #oilpainting #spaceart #cosmicperspective #cosmos #putabirdonit
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Detail of a new small piece coming to @everydayorig on Wednesday. Image area here is about 3 inches tall.
#cosmicperspective #spaceart #figurepainting #paintingdetail #paintingcloseup #oilpainting
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKMZo_WlqZA/?igshid=2529i07fywyf
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My online solo show with @abendgallery opened last Wednesday afternoon. It seems many people were somewhat distracted at the time, so I’m announcing it again!
This is “Vantage” and “Overview” painted to scale with each other. To accurately represent the average distance between the Earth and Moon, the two paintings would need to be hung about 45 feet apart.
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
#overvieweffect #moon #palebluedot #bluemarble #overview #cosmicperspective #spaceart #scienceart #earth #oilpainting #painting #cosmos #humanist #humanism #boldbrush
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9BVtSlJD_/?igshid=17ujl2md4owt8
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My Online Solo Show with @abendgallery is now live!
Overview, Oil, 24 x 24 inches
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
#overvieweffect #overview #earth #earthart #cosmicperspective #oilpainting #painting #spaceart #scienceart #cosmos #humanist #humanism #galleryshow #bluemarble #palebluedot #fineart
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJt4X2dlSUa/?igshid=qquw0tw9mg38
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