Day and night bears

After having repainted the bear seasons, I decided I hadn’t had enough of painting bears just yet. Since I realised there was a sun bear and a moon bear I knew I had to paint them as day and night, which is a bit related to the bear seasons series, which is also why I chose to make these images circular as well.

A circular painting featuring a sun bear sitting happily in a clearing of the wood, with the sun shining behind it.

Sun bear - day

Media: Digital.

If you haven’t heard of the sun bear, I wouldn’t blame you; it took me quite a while to find out about them myself. They’re live in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, and they get their name from the orange patch on their chest. The bears are also excellent climbers, and one of the most tree-living bears in the world, and is known for sleeping and sunbathing 2-7 meters above ground.

I wanted to keep the tones of the background quite warm, as though it’s the height of summer, thus rather warm, the sun even blends slightly with the sky, as though the sky is superheated.

A circular painting of a moon bear sitting happily among the shrubbery in the dark, with a crescent moon hanging low in the sky.

Moon bear - night

Media: Digital.

The Moon bear is possibly better known as the Asiatic black bear. They have a V shaped white mark on their chest, which sometimes looks a little bit like a bat if you ask me. And like the sun bear they’re also adapted to be excellent climbers, and are known to walk on their hind legs for long distances.

Of course my choice for the background was dark and cool-toned, which would both make the moon bear stand out, but it would also act like a nice contrast to the sun bear.