Heavy Smoker, 12x16 inches oil on canvas panel by Kenney Mencher

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I like to paint bears and older men in general who have thicker body types because that’s who I relate to the most and it also reflects my body type and even my level of hairiness. However, I’m not this muscular and powerful looking as this older male is. It kind of mission that I have with my painting is to help older man like myself accept their bodies and to promote body positivity.

In terms of the painting’s composition, one of the things that I like to do is to eliminate as much negative space as possible and to devote as much of the painting to filling up the composition or picture plane as I can. Another way that I do this is to have the figure touch or “kiss” the four edges of the canvas to make a sort of interesting spiral composition.

Texture is a big part of my painting and it’s one of the more abstract qualities. If you look closely at the painting you’ll see that the body is rendered mainly with brushes and thick impastos of paint. The term “impasto,” literally translates from the Italian as the word paste and it is an art historical term to describe thick layers of paint. I set off the brushwork of the body with thick troweled on paint in the background.