Portfolio > 100 Famous Views of the Universe

images evoking deep space and the events there
oil on multiple panels
88" x 88"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe: 13
oil on panel
13" x 12"
2019
100 Famous Views of the Universe 23
oil on panel
12" x13"
2017
100 Famous Views of the Universe 24
oil on panel
12" x 12"
2017
100 Famous Views of the Universe 25
oil on panel
12" x 12"
2017
100 Famous Views of the Universe 26
oil on panel
12" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 27
oil on panel
13" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 29
oil on panel
12" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 30
oil on panel
13" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 31
oil on panel
12" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 32
oil on panel
13" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 33
oil on panel
13" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 34
oil on panel
13" x 12"
2018
100 Famous Views of the Universe 36
oil on panel
12" x 12"
2018

I work with developmentally disabled adults during the day. I find my job hectic and emotionally intense, so when I go to my studio I often want to see something very quiet, something that gives me a doorway into a contemplative state of mind. These paintings are about gazing off into deep space. They are inspired by the amazing photos coming from the Hubble Telescope. Many of them are color fields because I imagine that many places one can look in the deep sky would have only star dust, emptiness and dark matter.

The paintings are designed to be viewed as a group, but I find I like looking at them one at a time, also. It's fun to move them around into different configurations and I hope one day to have a show in which people can do just that--experiment with different placements. Moving them around changes how they feel quite a bit

The title of the group comes from a woodcut print series by the Japanese master Hiroshige called 100 famous views of Edo which were sold as travel souvenirs in the mid 1800's. My little paintings are like souvenirs of where my mind goes in meditation. There aren't really 100 of them yet, but then, it took Hiroshige several years before he completed the full set, also