Animal Fusion in Seattle: Gold, the Lion and the Leopard in the Emerald City

Seattle is a city of silver light. Clouds drift in from the Pacific, mist settles over Puget Sound, and for much of the year the sky glows a soft, pearly grey. In that light, gold takes on an extraordinary power: it becomes warmth, it becomes sunshine, it becomes a fire glowing inside the room. That is why I wanted to bring Animal Fusion, my collection where the golden body meets the lion and the leopard, to Seattle.

Seattle has a creative soul unlike any other American city. It is the city that gave the world a new language of glass art: at Chihuly Garden and Glass, at the foot of the Space Needle, light passes through color and form like nowhere else. It is the city of the Seattle Art Museum and its Olympic Sculpture Park opening onto the water. And in Pioneer Square, the galleries open their doors every First Thursday for what was the very first art walk in the United States, born here in 1981.

I love that Seattle is a city of light-makers. Its glass artists, its photographers, its designers all understand that light is not only something we see: it is something we feel. That is exactly what I try to do when I paint a body in gold.

It all began in South Africa, in 2012. It was there, in the golden light of the savanna, that I took my first steps as a professional photographer. I remember those mornings leaving before dawn, the silence of the bush, and the moment when, suddenly, a leopard appears in the tall grass and rests its gaze on you. That gaze never leaves you. It taught me patience, humility and respect. Above all, it taught me what presence truly means.

Since then, two passions have guided my life as an artist. On one side, the big cats I love so deeply. On the other, the human body painted in gold, and especially the woman: feline, magnetic, sovereign. For years, these two worlds lived separately in my work. With Animal Fusion, they finally meet.

Lion Goddess, from the Animal Fusion collection.

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From the African Savanna to the Evergreen Forests

I returned to South Africa, to Kruger Park, where I was fortunate to stay at the magnificent lodges of Londolozi and Singita. There, nature is not a backdrop: it moves through you. You spend hours following a lioness and her cubs, waiting for a leopard to come down from its tree, watching for the perfect light at dusk.

I photographed the lions and leopards in this collection myself, in the wild, in their own territory. None of them comes from a stock library. Each one carries the memory of an encounter, a suspended moment I had the privilege to live.

Seattle shares that reverence for the wild. Surrounded by mountains, forests and water, it is a city where nature is never far away. And in January 2026, the city welcomed two new lionesses: two lion cub sisters were born at Woodland Park Zoo, the first lion births there in more than a decade. Today they explore the zoo's African Savanna with their pride. I find it beautiful that the story of the lioness, so central to Animal Fusion, continues in Seattle.

The lion moves me with its nobility. It is the most social of all cats, and it is the lionesses who lead the hunt and protect the pride, as the Smithsonian's National Zoo reminds us. The leopard fascinates me with its mystery: solitary, agile, invisible until the very last moment, strong enough to carry its prey high into the trees, as National Geographic describes. One embodies sovereignty, the other enigma. Both embody a kind of absolute beauty.

Leopard Fusion, golden fine art photography.

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The Golden Woman, Feline and Magnetic

Since 2016, I have been painting bodies in gold and photographing them as living sculptures. What has always struck me about the women I photograph is their feline side: a way of moving, of holding themselves, of looking into the lens with the same quiet intensity as a big cat in the savanna.

Seattle has its own kind of strength: independent, thoughtful, adventurous, at ease on a mountain trail as much as in a gallery. It is a quiet confidence that needs no display, and it is exactly the presence I try to capture: the independence of the leopard, the steady power of the lioness.

With Animal Fusion, I wanted to make the invisible bond between woman and animal visible. The leopard's rosettes flow across golden skin. The lion's gaze melts into a woman's face. The figure does not wear the animal like a costume: she becomes it, the way a dancer becomes the music.

Leopard Goddess, a very limited edition from a small private collection.

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An Idea Three Thousand Years Old

I am not the first to dream of this fusion. In ancient Egypt, the lion-headed goddess Sakhmet, "the powerful one," embodied both strength and healing. Her statues, carved more than three thousand years ago, are preserved today at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. And that same civilization reserved gold for the gods, because it never tarnishes, as The Met explains in its essay on gold in ancient Egypt.

The Pacific Northwest has its own ancient tradition of uniting the human and the animal. In the art of the region's First Peoples, animals are ancestors, guardians and companions of the spirit. Walking past the historic totem poles of Pioneer Square, one feels how deeply this dialogue runs through the city's history. With Animal Fusion, I offer my own contemporary expression of that timeless bond.

Real Women, Real Big Cats, Real Gold. No AI.

For me, this is essential. Every woman in this collection is a real person, whom I painted in gold by hand and photographed in the studio. Every big cat is a wild animal I photographed myself in South Africa. In an age of AI-generated images, I want every element of my work to have been lived, felt and shared. I explain this in more detail on my page No AI Art, Real People.

Seattle is at the heart of the technology revolution, and that is precisely why I believe authenticity matters so much here. In the city where so much of the digital world is built, a photograph that is entirely real, made by hand with real people and real animals, carries a special value. Gold has been worked by hand for millennia, from Egyptian goldsmiths to the master gilders of Florence, and institutions like the Getty Conservation Institute still document these traditional crafts. My work humbly continues that lineage, with the human body as its surface.

What Each Work Carries

• The lion and lioness: courage, leadership and radiant confidence.
• The leopard: independence, intuition and quiet strength.
• Gold: light, permanence and the sacred potential of the human body.

Lioness Fusion, in a modern bedroom.

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Animal Fusion in Seattle Homes

Seattle homes are built around light and nature: wood, stone and wide windows framing the water and the mountains. In a Craftsman or a Tudor home on Queen Anne Hill or in Madison Park, with warm wood and a fireplace, a golden work glows like a hearth through the long grey months. In a contemporary home in Laurelhurst or Broadmoor, with walls of glass opening onto Lake Washington, it answers the reflections of the water.

Golden Leopard Fusion, one of my collectors' favorite works.

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In a high-rise residence in Belltown or South Lake Union, overlooking Elliott Bay, a leopard print brings depth and warmth to modern spaces. Across the lake, in the waterfront estates of Medina, Bellevue, Mercer Island and Kirkland, the warm tones of the savanna bring a different kind of light. In a library or a study, a lion brings quiet authority; in a bedroom, a leopard adds sensuality and serenity.

Golden Embrace with Leopard in a contemporary interior.

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Pairs, Diptychs and Triptychs

I designed this collection as a dialogue. Two works hung side by side create rhythm, symmetry and a silent conversation between the woman and the animal. The open-plan living spaces and tall timber walls of Northwest homes are perfect for pairs, triptychs and large formats.

Two Animal Fusion works hung as a pair.

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For larger walls, I invite you to discover the Golden Feline Spirit Diptych, uniting the lion and the leopard, or the Feline Fusion Triptych, created for collectors, hotel lobbies and private residences.

For Seattle Collectors, Interior Designers and Hotels

Seattle is a remarkable city for art and hospitality: the galleries of Pioneer Square and its First Thursday Art Walk, the glass studios of the region, the grand hotels of downtown, the boutique hotels of Capitol Hill and Pike Place, and the restaurants, spas and wellness spaces that make the Emerald City a destination.

My photographs already live in more than 120 David Lloyd clubs across the UK and Europe, where they are seen by over one million members. I would love to bring Animal Fusion to Seattle and the Eastside: to hotels downtown and on the waterfront, to restaurants and lounges, to spas and wellness spaces, to corporate collections in South Lake Union and Bellevue, and to the homes of those who, like me, love wild nature, beauty and gold.

If you are an interior designer, an art advisor or a hospitality professional in Seattle or the Pacific Northwest, I would be delighted to work with you: selecting works for a specific project, adapting formats to your walls, or preparing a larger series for a hotel or residential development. Contact me directly to discuss your project.

Discover the complete Animal Fusion collection, with shipping to Seattle and worldwide.

Seattle has inspired more than one chapter of my work. Continue the journey through my other stories devoted to the city, its collectors and its interiors.

Art by City: Seattle