Well Muscled Otter in Profile, 11x14 inches watercolor on cotton paper by Kenney Mencher

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This is a portrait of an "otter." What's an otter?

Terminology

The term is a subset of the term bear, which describes the stereotype of hairy and big gay men. Otters, the comparison goes, look a bit like small bears. As such, the term is used to describe the stereotype of bears' smaller, more lean, and potentially more effeminate counterparts. Other differences between these two categories are that otters are generally more accepting of more feminine appearance, behavior and body types, such as twinks.

There are otters of all ages, with younger ones often being called cubs.

History

The background of the term is necessarily intertwined with that of the term bear, which became popular in 1970s San Francisco. Originally, all hairy gay men were seen this way, until the term was appropriated by larger people, with different terms being coined for those who are hairy but with a smaller frame. Later, many other categories followed.

Mazzei

The fact that a man who is homosexual and has a lot of hair all over his body gets an animal label is thanks to author George Mazzei. In 1979, Mazzei wrote a famous article named "Who's Who in the Zoo." In this article, seven types of homosexual men were defined, each named after wildlife. Perhaps the most influential of the seven subtypes Mazzei specified was bear, which is still commonly used today. While otters were not mentioned in this article, as such, the root of this use of the word can be traced back to 1979.

This watercolor of a muscular otter is cropped mid waist and placed off center to create an interesting composition by cropping the figure and working with the edges of the picture plane to create an asymmetrical and interesting composition.

This work is painted by first sketching out the figure with a lithographic crayon and then applying successive layers of watercolor over the crayon to create shading and color.

The paper that this is painted on is called Rives BFK, which is a type of heavy cotton printmaking paper that won't degrade over time and should hold the color really well for at least fifty to one hundred years without fading, especially if this is framed behind glass.

The size is a standard US frame size and can be framed inexpensively. Try buying a frame on the net.

Warning these are the only sites authorized to sell my art:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/kmencher

https://www.kenney-mencher.net/

http://kenneymencher.com/