Commander Ursine, 16x20 inches oil on canvas panel by Kenney Mencher

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THIS IS AN ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING

A NEW survey reveals bears and otters are in, with 58 per cent of gay men saying they prefer chest hair on a partner.

The online survey by travel dating site misstravel.com surveyed more than 4,000 women and gay men about their grooming preferences.

Only 39 per cent of women said they preferred a partner with a hairy chest, with almost two thirds saying they like a manscaped look.

Often, body hair on queer men is an arbiter of masculinity. “You get to flaunt your masculinity with your body hair,” says Hamad, a 23-year old queer person living in the Middle East. “It’s like peacocking. Muscle guys who are hairy are super desirable, but that’s not the case for fat people or skinny people. There are tribes like bears and otters where it gets fetishized. When you’re supposed to be feminine, you’re not supposed to have body hair. You can only have body hair if you have the masculinity to go with it.”

This portrait of was painted in the alla prima method. Alla prima, also called “wet-on-wet” and “direct painting,” is a very popular method of painting in which the artist applies paint to the canvas essentially in one sitting (“alla prima” is an Italian phrase that translates to “at once”). Usually this means that I even do the drawing with a brush in paint but in this instance, I did a quick sketch with a crayon to get the drawing and proportions correct.

Alla prima allows an overall command of the whole picture because everything is being painted ‘all at once’ in the same session. It calls for virtuoso handling of the material – a boldness that can bring out an inspired response.

The main focus of alla prima is edges: soft, blended ones contrasted with those sharply defined. However, being able to control these edges and the way the paint mixes require preparation of colors and a decisive handling of the material.

The composition of this painting is based on a principle called the “rule of thirds” in which the focus or emphasis of the painting is brought off center so it is a bit more interesting. In this painting you’ll see that the smoker’s head is in the upper right quarter of the image rather than dead center. I also thought that the asymmetrical quality of the composition made this painting have a better flow.

I’ve also introduced some non-local colors into this painting. The blues and grays, especially in the hair are colors one wouldn’t expect to find in those areas. This is a technique that the Impressionists used in their paintings quite a bit.

I’ve also attempted to use thick quick calligraphic brushwork to make the textures more engaging and descriptive. I use different textures and brushworks for different areas. I’ve also layered the paint and in some places used plastering knives to skip coat the paint over areas and pencils and the back of the brush to etch in hair like textures.

This is painted on a canvas panel. Why do I paint on canvas panel? Mainly for the durability. Canvas panels are made with a rigid core with canvas glued directly to the rigid base. Unlike stretched canvas, boards warp less and expands and contracts less. It’s sturdier to ship and will endure the heat and cold better so the paint will crack and chip less than a stretched canvas which flexes and changes as in different temperatures and environments.

These are the only sites that are authorized to sell my art,

• http://www.kenneymencher.com

• http://www.kenney-mencher.com

• https://www.instagram.com/kenneymencher

• https://www.facebook.com/Kenney.Mencher

• http://www.youtube.com/user/kmencher

• https://www.etsy.com/shop/kmencher

A bit of stuff about me.

Leather, Tattoos and Bears. Oh My!

Von Black Boot - 5. September 201756

https://bonermagazine.com/leather-tattoos-and-bears-oh-my/

San Francisco is where you will find Folsom Street on google maps and this is where the original Folsom Street Fair took place back in 1984, a full five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was 19 years later that the first Folsom Europe was first celebrated in 2003.

The original leather fetish events took most of their cues from the 1950’s motorcycle scene in the USA as well as the historic uniforms of WW2 – “a la Tom of Finland”. This classic leather fetish attire still stands strong today but is infused with many contemporary influences including rubber, sports, fitness and puppy play.

Some will travel to Berlin to enjoy the unique experience of just relaxing in public in their full fetish regalia to drink a big german ‘Bier vom Fass’, smoke a cigar and catch up with old friends. Others arrive with great expectations of what the notorious Berlin party scene has to offer and arrive ready for their mission, diving head first into an agenda filled with fetish, sex, drugs, and circuit/techno music. Many have spent most of the past year preparing for their Folsom EU experience with countless hours at the gym, eating lean, and possibly getting a little help from chemistry to assist them in achieving their built for action bodies – all too eager for some photo ops in their stretched to the limits leather and rubber.

In the spirit of this season, it is with great pleasure that we have the honor of showcasing the artworks of Kenney Mencher to help celebrate this yearly event. He uses his talents to capture intimate moments of some Folsom worthy males in his artworks. His color palettes and pattern choices are softer by design and his portraits are constructed with generous amounts of paint on the canvas – all executed with an acute accuracy, narrating a graphic novel of testosterone filled stories.

This particular group he shares intentionally spotlights the over 40 crowd and for good reason. With the rampant age discrimination that runs within our community, Kenney willfully chooses to focus on very sexy but more mature models. The artist himself is of this age group and recently gave up his university teaching position to paint full time. He felt that he needed dedicate more efforts to his studio work and speak out about this prejudice and other topics via his drawings and paintings.

Through this series he proves that sexiness is not determined by a number, but rather with an attitude. Either you have it or you don’t, and these guys that Kenney paints surely DO have it. His men are presented in a traditional close-up portrait and tell a very manly story with no nudity, no erections, no sex acts, just very sexy portraits. He visualizes the point that there is much more to sexiness than a dick pic.

With another element of contrast, Kenney does not paint the backgrounds of these fetish portraits with the dark and hard scenarios that we might expect. Instead, his use of pastels and wallpaper like patterns gives each portrait a twist that completely contrasts the macho & bad boy image that everyone envisions. This could represent the juxtaposition of their everyday life with their fetishes, the times before or after the party, or their life of fetish in privacy. Further pushing the notion that these are all basically real people just like you and me.

Most of all have fun this September and be ready to answer when someone asks … Who’s your daddy? (bb)

Keep up with Kenney at his page: www.kenney-mencher.com

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Ratings and Reviews

Michael

Rated 5 out of 5

Thank you for the beautiful drawing !!!! You are a great talent and a wonderful man . God bless and many thanks !

JoeyL06

Rated 5 out of 5

Absolute amazing piece! I love the art and the artist. I will be definitively purchasing more art pieces.

RJ

Rated 5 out of 5

Wow. I've admired Kenney's work for a while, and decided to purchase this work as a gift for a friend. Seeing his work in person is totally different from seeing the photos online... the textures and colors are beautiful. Too bad for my friend, I'm keeping this one for myself! It was packed very very well and arrived in perfect shape. Highly recommended!

PoojiDung

Rated 5 out of 5

Another fantastic piece of art from Mr. Mencher. Speedy shipping and well packaged. Thanks!

Rodolfo

Rated 5 out of 5

I have admired this artist work for quite some time now and always wanted to acquire one of his pieces. I was lucky enough to find this one available and the seller was extremely helpful throughout the whole transaction. Upon receiving this item I was beyond astonished at the care given to how the item was shipped. Talk about professionalism to a T!!! I looked at this piece through strong light and very strong magnification and needless to say, I was totally overwhelmed by just the sheer technique and artistry of his work! My Lord, what an amazing talent he possesses!!! I’ll be purchasing many more items from him as soon as I possibly can. This is definitely going to be A focal point in my vast art collection!!! Beyond over the moon thrilled!!!