I painted this lion one August to honor both my parents. Whenever the subject came up, Mom would joke about how volatile it was for two Leo's to marry. She wasn't wrong. While I was painting this lion, I wound up wondering why some lions have black manes. It turns out their manes grow more and more black as they age. A lion with a mostly black mane is a long-time survivor. Inverse to we humans who tend to go gray and then white with age. Lion with courage verse, art prints on Etsy The original painting, which now resides in a private collection in Chicago, Illinois, does not have the scripture or any text on it. I'm not a fan of original paintings having text or pushing a meaning. I only paint because some things strike me as beautiful or emotional and I start thinking about how I might get watercolor to convey that. The verse was added later to some of the prints, upon a special request. It fit both symbolically and physically in the open space so I accommodated.