The Most Challenging Painting of My Career | A Lion Legacy Headed to Sotheby’s

This video documents the creation of Pride — the most technically and emotionally challenging painting of my career. Created over three months of full-time work, Pride is a large-scale oil painting constructed from multiple independent reference images and unified into a single aerial composition. The process involved rebuilding lighting, colour harmony, and atmosphere to bring six lions together within one believable moment, balancing detailed realism with a deliberately painterly finish. The painting depicts six iconic lions — Bobcat, George, Yame, Thor, Meg, and Gaby — ambassadors for their species whose stories have helped raise global awareness for lion conservation. The Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary and Kevin Richardson Foundation are unique in their mission: caring for their resident lions while also raising critical awareness and funding for the protection of wild lions and their natural habitat. The full sale value of Pride is pledged to the Kevin Richardson Foundation. The painting will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s, July 2026. 🎨 Artist: Carla Grace 🦁 Conservation Partner: Kevin Richardson Foundation 🔗 Learn more about the painting: 👉 https://www.carlagraceart.com (replace with exact page) 🔗 Support lion conservation: 👉 https://www.lionwhisperer.co.za #wildlifeart #lionpainting #ConservationArt #oilpainting #fineart #kevinrichardson #lionconservation #Sothebys #artistjourney Music used licensed from UppBeat Timestamps: 0:00 Intro – What this video is about 0:18 How Kevin and I connected 0:51 The pitch 1:12 In South Africa 2:35 Why Kevin Richardson Foundation? 3:12 Putting the Composition together 3:43 The lions stories 4:08 The painting process 6:06 The finished Painting 6:32 Awards and Sotheby's Tags: lion painting wildlife art oil painting process painting a lion realistic wildlife art animal artist conservation art Kevin Richardson lion conservation wildlife painting process fine art painting artist documentary painting for Sothebys Sothebys art lion art big cat art nature conservation art