THE CAVE

This painting is a tribute to nature’s own mastery — an ode to the living canvas of Petra’s ancient sandstone. The cave and rock face unfold in sweeping ribbons of colour, where minerals, time, and desert winds have painted their own abstract patterns long before any human hand ever touched a brush. In Petra, the stone seems almost alive: shifting from rose to gold to deep umber, swirling in natural marbling that feels both delicate and monumental.

As I painted this piece, I wanted to honour the quiet genius of the landscape itself. Each curve, each vein of colour, each layered sediment tells a story written over thousands of years. The cave becomes a doorway not only into the earth but into the past — a reminder that nature is the original artist, patient and endlessly inventive.

This work captures the wonder I felt standing before those rocks, seeing how sunlight reveals hidden hues and how shadow deepens the mystery. It is a celebration of Petra’s sandstone as both sculpture and painting — a breathtaking fusion of geology and poetry carved into the desert walls.

Oils on Canvas