TommyBearHama, 16x20x1.5 inches oil on stretched canvas by Kenney Mencher A body positive painting depicting a heavy masculine bear.
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This is a painting of one of my Instagram friends named TommyBearHama. If you’d like to see a video of how I painted this please visit,
This is an alla prima painting with an underdrawing. If you would like to see a video of how I made this please visit, https://www.instagram.com/p/C2xpC1_uBWz/
This painting also is important to me because it allows me to express my feelings about body positivity and representing people who often are at the very least, not represented by mainstream culture in a positive way, and also not seen as being beautiful. It’s very clear to me that there are a lot of people who find this kind of body type attractive or beautiful. I certainly do and that’s why I like to paint them.
Many straight folks are unaware of the bear subculture. Hardly a surprise, since a powerful majority rarely concerns itself with the doings of a marginalized minority. When, three or four years ago, I first mentioned bears to my straight friends, none of them knew what I was talking about, though by now at least one of them calls me “The Bear.” Similarly, my heterosexual students, as expert as they might be on current media, seem equally ignorant about this topic.
Most GLBT folks, however, by now seem to know the basics. A “bear” is a hairy, bearded, brawny-to-bulky gay man, usually displaying aspects of traditional masculinity. A cub is a younger version of the same; a wolf is a lean, hairy man; an otter a young version of that. “Woof!” is a lustful expression, meaning essentially: “Tasty! I’d like to climb all over that!” “Grrrrr!” means much the same. As you can see, after twenty-some years of development, the bear community, like any subculture, has its own jargon, sometimes called “bearspeak” or “vocabulary.” It also has its own values, its own style, and its own commodities. There are bear-oriented bars, festivals, music, movies, magazines, and books. There are regional clubs for bears not only in metropolitan centers, where the communities first developed, but also in rural areas.
Since this is on stretched canvas with 1 ½ inch wide stretcher bars and the canvas is wrapped around the back, you don’t necessarily need to frame this piece. You could just stick a nail in the wall and Hang the piece on the wall. Another way of finishing the painting off and making it fit with your décor would be to paint the edges. If you do choose to frame this painting, please don’t go to a framer since they are very expensive, you could easily buy an open back frame from a website like Dickblick.com or Amazon or Etsy since this is a standard size frame.
