---

There are many caves of all sizes and conditions in Romania. However the most exciting ones can only be reached after a hike through impenetrable forests full of ravines and poisonous snakes. With a bit of knowledge, endurance and luck, you can delve into the underground, where only a few others have stood before.

Caves are like parallel worlds where time flows differently, things look different and you get strange and exciting feelings. As far as I know, no one in the entire history of art has painted with oils so deep in the underworld.

But to paint in such environment wasn’t easy at all. With the canvas, easel, and paints, I had to crawl through narrow shafts with cool running water on the bottom, climb steep slopes inside huge underground domes or slide on the slippery mud that the local caves are full of. While it was 40 degrees hot on the surface, the underground was damp and cold. It was exciting, dangerous and totally worth it. I think I managed to capture that otherworldliness in my paintings.

---