A local artist has been helping Poole Accident Repair to get into the spirit of the Pride in Bournemouth public arts project by transforming a lion sculpture with an Egyptian inspired painting.

The lion, sponsored by Poole Accident Repair, arrived at Teresa Lawton’s art studio with a plain white coat, it did not take long for the Dorset based artist to decide how she would bring the lion sculpture to life.

Teresa said: “I was reluctant when I was first approached by Poole Accident Repair with the idea of painting a large life size three dimensional sculpture of a lion! It seemed something so far removed from the rather serious nature of the work I do as a painter.”

Inspired by the lion as a symbol of power since time began, with the image depicted on ancient Egyptian tombs and on coats of arms as a sign of strength and comradeship, Teresa’s creativity and imagination developed into the lion called ‘Spirit’.

She continued: “I am well and truly out of my comfort zone and it’s a good feeling. I couldn’t be happier that all the hard work will be worth it and going to two very worthy causes. They say never work with children or animals, personally I don’t agree. I love animals and the children are our future.”

Leon Coupland, Director of Poole Accident Repair said: “We liked the idea of such an original project that provides us with the opportunity to support our chosen charity, Julia’s House. Theresa has done such a fantastic job of painting Spirit and when you are standing next to him he is even more fantastic.”