The Spectators, Original Kodiak Bears Oil Painting
 
"The Spectators"
Kodiak bears perusing the dinner menu.
20 x 24 oil on board, unframed.
Framing options available at extra cost.
 
For this painting, I used oak board without canvas attached.  Because it is oak, the wood grain is apparent and my vision was to have some of it show through my glazed finished piece.  It worked well and the painting has a raw, rustic quality that is impossible to achieve on canvas or covered board.
 
The Kodiak bear, scientifically known as Ursus arctos middendorffi, is a notable subspecies of brown bear found in the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. Also referred to as the Kodiak brown bear or Alaskan brown bear, it holds the distinction of being one of the largest recognized subspecies or populations of brown bears, alongside the polar bear. Some experts also consider it to be a population of grizzly bears.
In terms of physiology and physical appearance, the Kodiak bear closely resembles other #brownbear species like the mainland grizzly bear Ursus arctos horribilis  and the now-extinct California grizzly bear (U. a. californicus). The primary distinction lies in size, as Kodiak bears are generally 1.5 to 2 times larger on average than their relatives. Despite this size difference, their diet and behavior remain largely similar to those of other brown bears.
Kodiak bears have had a long history of interaction with humans, particularly hunters and inhabitants of the rural coastal regions in the archipelago.  In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on conservation and protection of the Kodiak bear population due to increased human activities within their habitat.