From cartoonist Bruin (profile) of Bear With Me: "Someone has arrived unexpectedly, which has broken up the beating being given to Paul. It's no surprise as to who it is, but our new arrival has a shock coming when he discovers who has been beaten. Yes, our boys stand up against injustice; they just don't expect it being served to one of their own. The reaction is both expected and severe".

Charlie Hunter (website - LiveJournal) works with such confidence when he makes a piece of art. You can see it in the exquisite detail of his brushwork. Here at PlanetBears, I have spoken of his great drawings in the past (articles), yet today holds a very special meaning to me. Charlie sent in an excellent sketch of my partner, Roger (galleries - profile). All I can say is 'wow...'. Actually, I can write a hundred praise words, yet I will resort to the old saying - 'a painting is worth a thousand words' (this is the original drawing that Charlie used). When I showed the drawing to Roger, he said 'that's me... he really captured the essence of me'. And that's what a great artist can do; he captures almost a piece of the subject's soul and places it onto the canvass, making it come alive. So a huge thanks goes to Charlie for putting so much time and effort into a piece that Roger 'n I will cherish for the rest of our lives.

Some people hate their boss while some people are sleeping with their boss... and isn't it great when you're the boss...? Why all this boss talk? Well check out Bossy Sculpture, original artwork created by the handsome (and not so bossy looking) Jorge. Reading his bio, it states that Jorge is born and raised in Spain and has had a love affair with animation and art sculpture since very young. He's been working on model collections since '97 and what you see on his site is his latest and 3rd collection which is still a work in progress. Some really great stuff he's got going on there - from muscle-type construction guys to right-out Bears.

Visit his online shop - as it states on his site: "Each figure in this series is individually designed and produced. The process begins with an original hand drawn design. The drawing is used to create an original sculpture which is made out of clay. A mold of the original sculpture is made in silicone rubber. Each design produces 50 individual hard resin castings. Each casting is then sanded and hand painted with high quality acrylics. Finally each casting is given a protective coating".

Some people cannot stand graffiti, yet I've come to appreciate this urban art. It's like they are invisible warriors, changing the landscapes of cities yet nobody notices them working. One morning you have a blank wall, the next morning... art.

One thing I have never witnessed is Bear grafitti... not until I came across the work of the Spanish artist Yotto Bano. He calls his stuff (fittingly) 'Graffiti & Urban Bear Art', and I had mentioned his work in the past here on PlanetBears (articles), and he even quoted something I said on his blog site UrsuLaLaLa (the quote...? That his work is so cute you just want to hug the walls he's painted).

Since then, he has created a great profile on TubeBear, adding photos of his work and also a hot banner (every time I see the banner show up, it's like someone graffitied my site... it's very cool). He has also contributed a piece of his work to the ongoing TubeBear art gallery (for more on this - click here and find out how you can add your work to the gallery as well). Lastly, I notice he has some great looking jackets with his work sewn on the back... not sure if those are up for sale or not, you'll need to contact him for that.

Lastly - you gotta love this graffitied belly, and click here to see an incredible piece he created on the wall. I kept it at very high resolution just so you can see the amount of detail that went into it. I love UrsuLaLaLa.

First things first - French artist Guy Thomas (profile) has a new look to his website, it's great, easy to navigate and you get to see all of his most excellent Bearish artwork. As he states in his biography: "I've never stopped drawing what I love most: big, strong, full bodies, hairy with rough or smiling bearded faces. This is my way of thanking Mother Nature for all the grace and pleasure she brings us with Bears".

Now for the news: Guy has a new exhibition at the Station B in Lyon, France. It begins on November 22nd and will run right thru until January 18th. Looks like a great place for a showing.

And now for your 'Bear History' of the day... as we take a moment to look back in time to see the cuties which came before us, and to check out some great beards from centuries ago. This is composer Georges Bizet (Wiki - photo), born 1838 (some 40 years after Mozart) and died quite young, at the age of 36, on his 6th wedding day anniversary. So yes, a straight Bearish man, however that does not mean I cannot appreciate his accomplishments.

To be honest, I don't know Bizet's work all that well. I have heard of 'Carmen' but not of his other work. I'm going to have to find his music, close my eyes, and lose myself in what many hail as a classical master.

The following is from cartoonist Bruin (articles - profile) of Bear With Me: "Things are looking dire for Paul. Bad enough that his brother has organized a small posse to bash him, his own father has set him up for the attack. Will Paul escape? Will Andy get there in time? Stay tuned faithful readers!". Reading this comic lately has my blood boiling. It's so sad to think that some people could stoop this low... sometimes I forget it's a cartoon.

On a lighter note, the image today is a 'self-portrait' done by Bruin. Not sure exactly when he drew this, but it's at least a few years old, before he got his etching kit for his computer. He's just as cute in cartoon as he is in his pictures (as an aside - does anyone remember Bruin's very sexy dress pants and socks and shoes photo set he posted on a Yahoo! groups many moons ago. That man has a great set of legs).

I really don't know what to call this... it's kind of like... when you take images and you cut them and paste them on paper, without any rhyme or reason, and they make sense to you, but to nobody else... that's what Scum Bag Fag Hag reminds me of. This being said, I like it... I think the net needs more of this nonlinear art 'stuff...'. You don't have to put too much thinking into what you're seeing which is good for an overworked brain. Of course if you need your art to make sense, then this might just be too out there for you, but for those who are open, then this is actually fun. Not that there's too many Bearish guys, but there's the occasional one which makes it even that much more fun to flip thru this abstract-like art. Also, this is not just an e-zine, there's an actual magazine you can place on your coffee table. And they take submissions. Try it out, you just might 'get' it (I don't, but I still like it).

It wasn't too long ago that LOGO aired a documentary called Bear Run the Movie, directed by Dan Hunt. Unfortunately I don't get LOGO so I wasn't able to see it, however if you missed it as well, you can purchase the DVD for $29.95 from their site. It's well worth it since all I've been hearing are praises from all those who saw it. And in other news, Dan Hunt (pic #1 - pic #2) was interviewed in the latest issue of BEEF Mag (website - article - cover).

The following is a snippet of the movie from their site: "Award-winning documentarian Dan Hunt has created a delightful, intimate - and surprising - portrait of what it means to be a maturing gay man in the new millennium. BEAR run tracks the contemporary rituals, language, values  and evolving aesthetic of bear culture, by following three characters  as they romp through the '06-'08 event circuit Bear Albany, International Bear Rendezvous, Bear Week – Provincetown, Bear Trek and Lazy Bear Weekend... among others".

This is another article in my series of 'where have the artists gone to...? Click here to see some drawings by Chris Taylor, a highly defined muscular, intelligent, witty and seriously hot looking Bear (pic #1 ~ pic #2).

The last I heard from him, Chris was doing was working on some comic books. This was back in '03, and I've sent him a couple of emails since but those emails have turned into cyberdust. A highly talented guy, gorgeous and menacing at the same time, because I met Chris Taylor way back in '00 (or '01) at this Bear Icons show. At the time, I was trying to get a 'Bear Mall' open with 2 other guys yet it fell thru, however Chris did some drawings (Bear Foot guy- and his boots). He also made me a BearPress guy (since the site I was running back then was called BearPress - pic #1 - pic #2). I hope all is well and I hope he's still drawing husky men because Chris sure had a knack for it.

The last I heard from photographer John Rand (website) - he stated he was still doing Bear photos as well as landscapes yet everything was on hold as he was in the midst of building a log cabin as his new permanent home. That was at the beginning of the year.

Here on PlanetBears, I've mentioned John Rand before when I posted an article about his cute little book called 'Ten Bear Men'. With that article I posted some of the photographs he's taken. And a small reminder ~ the book is available for $10. Contact John if you're interested.

Well I was checking out my archives and I found some more of his excellent work to share. Check them out here. Also, here is a Flash video that Thom Collins consisting of a John Rand logo. He made this for me way back in '01 and it's still an incredible piece of Flash design even to today's standards (and Thom is another one who I haven't heard from in awhile - his website is still on hold - I think I need to contact him to see where he too is at in his life).

Below is a bio I posted on Bear-Pics in '01: "I was born on October 1st, 1956 in Oakland, California and spent the first years of my life in the Alaskan wilderness. My father was a forest ranger. At age 6 asked for a dollhouse for my birthday because I wanted to be an interior decorator. By high school I decided I wanted to be a graphic artist but during the second semester of college my interest shifted to fine art and photography. I received a Masters Degree in Fine art from University of California Irvine in 1987. Later that year I was hired to teach photography at one of the local community colleges. In 1988 I began to photograph Bears exclusively because I felt there is a need for a broader erotic esthetic than was available in the gay press. I have done work for American Bear, Bear, Bulk Male, Drummer, Power Play and others. My work has also appeared in Artforum, Artweek and various journals and newspapers. Bears are my first love, I have always been attracted to hairy, heavyset men. Photography is my second love".

When I first started doing Bear news back in '99, there was one site that I used to mention so often since it was updated a lot, and that was Lynn Ludwig's site ShutterBear.com (articles). Over the years, however, Lynn has been fighting hard with his health. Yet even tho his health has been challenging him, he still makes it out to Lazy Bear Weekend.

Now it's my bad for not mentioning this earlier since he added the photos back in August, but you gotta check out his pictures from Lazy Bear '08. Lynn's photos are one of the reasons why I started working in the Bear world because he was one of the very first who took pictures of the very best Bearish looking men. And you can always tell a Lynn Ludwig photo because he seems to capture the best in every man that strikes a pose for him. His images are bright and full of life, and the inner beauty of the men shines thru, bringing forth their outer beauty as well. It's a beautiful thing.

The following is from Lynn's news page: "So at least I made it out one more day and a few more hours at Lazy Bear '08; and that continues to be the limit of my events activities once again. But my garden is looking great and that activity continues to provide its own rewards. Still, it bums me out That a new 5 drug cocktail hasn't fixed everything. Blood work looks good, but a nasty pneumonia, a scary drug interaction, a fainting spell along with a damaged heart, a compressed spine and more drag me down and prey upon my spirit. Losing my cat and very best friend hasn't help. Enjoy the photos - what I can do does sustain me and I am always hopeful I will be able to do more down the long and winding road".

Time to tune into the Buck and Bobaloo Show which is a "weekly podcast starring Bruce 'Buck' Hakes and Bob 'Bobaloo' Koenig. Featuring obscene amounts of sex, drugs, Bears, and rock 'n roll. And adorable fluffy puppies"... or so they state on their website.

I have spoken many times about Bobaloo over the years (articles - profile), and I have known of him from way back when I first saw some football pictures of him in a Yahoo!Groups in '01. He has since toured with the Bears on the Run guys and has made a DVD for his standup comedian act (which can be found on his site BobalooRox); I have been an online fan of his since the beginning.

As for Buck, I gotta be honest and say that this is the 1st time I've heard of him however I'm planning on grabbing some of their podcasts so I can get better acquainted. They have been doing their podcast show since September 25th and have so far 6 episodes.

From Bruin (profile), cartoonist of Bear With Me (articles): "Apparently, Paul's recent coming out has not gone over at all well with Mr. Lynde, who is on the phone with Karl suggesting he bring some friends over that evening. The air is becoming thick with foreboding, yet Paul seems oblivious to it.  Perhaps he's hoping for some kind of reconciliation with his family.  I'm hoping Andy doesn't take too long getting there". Also, 'Bear With Me' is featured on Bearotic. Very hot.

Here is the 3rd and final installment to Christophe Jannin's triptych of ArchAngels (blog - articles - profile - website). It is St. Raphael who has the ribbon 'contraria contrario curantur' which signifies 'the opposites are healing the opposites". This drawing is symbolizing healing and self improvement.

What I need to do is post the emails that Christophe has sent me. They go into a lot more details about the semiotics concerning these 3 archangels (St. Raphael - St. Michael and St. Gabriel). I'll do that in the next update. Also, Christophe said he's not done drawing angels. He's working on others however these 3 make up the triptych. I'll keep you informed about his 'holy' drawings as he sends them in.

Going thru my archives, I came across an artist that I hadn't checked his site out in years. It had been 6 years or so since the last time I mentioned his work, and I was glad to see that he is still plugging away at his art.

His name is Chris Komater - website - and he does some really 'special' stuff in relation to fur. This is what I wrote concerning his work back in November '01 on Bear-Pics: "Sometimes you think - everything has been done with fur; that nothing new can come out of fur. We, the Bear lovers of the planet, have gotten used to the little furry events in our lives that we take for granted - like pulling fur from our teeth after a night of romp, or spending hours unclogging the tub when our trick takes a shower. And we, the Bear lovers of the world, we just can't seem to get enough of fur on photograph. We scurry about the net picking up as many furry pics as our hard drives can muster. And even though we stroke our knob as we examine or lick all the fur of the world, we realize - nothing new can be done with fur.

Well, my little fur-inhalers, today you are going to experience something new with fur, and we have to thank Chris Komater for this. Now, it might not be what you expect. New things sometimes take awhile to get used to. I'll be honest here and say that some of his stuff is really great, while some of his stuff I just don't understand. But hey, I'm not cultured, so what the hell do I know...?".

You have to check out his stuff (like his 'Jack and Mack' project), and I seem to have rediscovered his material at a good time because he now has a sale going on for some of his prints. Also, take a look at this recent Bearotic interview.