...It has a way of making us feel more connected, more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors, and feel less burdened by our personal problems, which also feel smaller. It can be a helpful reset from stress to experience the cosmic perspective and connect with something larger than ourselves.

8x6in New tiny painting on EveryDayOriginal.com tomorrow, 8/20. The experience of awe when contemplating the scale of the universe often creates what researchers call the “small self” effect. A psychological state of feeling small, but exhilarated, that reminds us to think outside of ourselves.

Detail of a new tiny painting coming to EveryDayOriginal.com this Thursday, Aug 20th! This image represents about 4 inches in height of the actual painting.

"...In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of reality..."
 -Albert Einstein, The World As I See It

A Glimpse of the Mysterious 9 x 12 inches, Oil, 2019 ”The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."
 -Albert Einstein, The World As I See It Prints: robrey.storenvy.com

We are not the same particles from week to week. Our atoms pass through us as cells are replaced, energy is taken in, and waste released. We have been the sea, we have been the wind and the trees, and for a moment, the universe getting a chance to open its eyes and experience the wonder of itself.

We are part of the universe, made of trillions of atomic bits of star dust that, through a process of 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution, have become conscious and able to understand the universe.

Cosmic Awareness 30x24 in, 2022 An allegorical figure representing humanity waking up to the vastness of the universe in which we live. “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself” -Carl Sagan Prints: robrey.storenvy.com

Understanding who we are in the universe involves understanding where we come from. How did life begin? We find that the building blocks from which life likely formed, organic (carbon containing) molecules and amino acids, are everywhere in space. In swirling clouds of gas and dust...

Dust of Life Oil, 24 x 18 inches This painting and its preliminary study are part of the third annual Character in Context show. The largest exhibition of original illustration in the Western U.S. opening this Friday, June 5th at the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art in Trinidad, Colorado.

Evolution tells us about our history and that informs our understanding of who we are. Having originated in a common single-celled ancestor, from bacteria to trees, reptiles to mammals, all life on earth is one very old and very large family.

Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years. Though the process of evolution, life has flourished into the millions of amazing species we see around us on earth today, including ourselves.

A new tiny painting coming to @everydayoriginal.bsky.social tomorrow. Simple Beginnings 6x8 in, Oil "There is grandeur in this view of life ... from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." - Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

...In the time since then, your atoms have been part of many things: oceans and oaks, dinosaurs and dandelions, foxes and fireflies. One day they will move on, scattered and woven into many more incarnations before eventually returning to space in nebulous clouds to birth new stars.

Return to the Stars 8x6in Friday on EveryDayOriginal.com Some of your atoms, mostly hydrogen, come from the beginning of the universe. Many more were created in the super novae of ancient dying stars.

Detail of a new tiny painting coming to everydayoriginal.com this Friday, 2/20.

Early philosophers used to believe 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.

Observation 24x20in, 2014 In science, Observation leads the way. We may not always like what we see, particularly if it runs against our cherished beliefs, but if we accept it with humility, we will find ourselves better able to confront the problems we face. Prints: robrey.storenvy.com

Human wellbeing benefits greatly from the experience and practice of gratitude. We don’t spend much time thinking about our magnetosphere, but it’s one of the many extraordinary things that make life possible on Earth. This can be reminder to take notice of other things we may be taking for granted.

Luckily, movements within earths molten metal core generate a protective magnetic shield around our home planet. Without our magnetosphere to protect us, the solar wind may have long ago stripped away our atmosphere, leaving Earth looking much more like Mars looks today: barren, dry, and lifeless.

Magnetosphere, an allegory 30 x 24 in, Oil on panel, 2021, homage to Fumée D'Ambre Gris by John Singer Sargent. In addition to the warmth and light we receive daily, our sun expels a constant barrage of dangerous charged particles called the solar wind. Prints: robrey.storenvy.com

A little light for the season's dark days, the light of life and the natural world. Bioluminescence : Altruism 16 x 12 in, Oil on panel, 2020 Prints available: robrey.storenvy.com

In the face of daunting challenges the human capacity for reason provides a light of hope. Our abilities to understand the world around us through scientific methods and to develop new technology have made us the first species in Earth’s four and a half billion year history to bring life to the moon

Flyby 16 x 12 in, oil on panel This painting also debuted, and sold, at the IX Art Show last month. Prints Available: robrey.storenvy.com The first step to landing on a new world is getting a closer look.

Nebulae 12 x 16 in, oil on panel A new painting from an earlier study, Nebulae debuted at the IX Art Show. It's now back and on my website, original and prints. robreyart.com

The Winds of Neptune 24 x 18 in, Oil This new painting from an earlier study will be coming with me to the @ixarts.bsky.social Arts Show in Reading PA, next week! #cosmicperspective

Night Migration Oil, 30x20in, 2024 at @ixarts.bsky.social Art Show next month! In our night sky there is a dark band that runs through the Milky Way, known as the Great Rift. This darkness is where the stars of our galaxy are obscured by vast clouds of interstellar dust and geese … er, gas.