My Process of Creating a Haida-style Loon Pattern

[Frank Pellow]

I decided to attempt to create a scroll-saw pattern of a following the formline principals of Pacific North Coast First Nations art.  As a starting point for this attempt, I chose this Loon painting in the Haida style by Glen Rabena:

I’ve seen loons “standing” and flapping like that many many times near Pellow’s Island and the reason for this action is almost always to draw attention to the loon doing the flapping and away from that loon’s mate and babies or nest which will be at least 20 metres away  before flapping commences.  Almost never does one see a flapping loon right beside a swimming loon and almost always there are babies present. 

Here is a photo of such a “standing” loon:

Therefore I decided to split Glen’s art into two pieces which will be hung on a wall so distance apart.  I will also add at least one baby to the part that includes the swimming loon.

I started by roughly drawing the standing loon adding bridges so that no parts will be abandoned.  This a typical piece in that there can be symbols nested within symbols within symbols ...  I did some simplification and only nested down to three levels.  Also, I don’t like the way Glen has painted a large circular bulge in the middle if the left wing, so I eliminated it.  Here is my rough drawing:

 

The drawing was glued to 3mm thick Baltic birch plywood, then sawing commenced.   I’m not very good at drawing but I find that I can compensate for my rough drawing with precise sawing:

Thus, I am often "drawing" with my saw blade (in this case, a Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse #1 blade). 

After sawing, I created my real pattern by photographing the sawn out piece against a dark background:

An interesting aspect of this is that were I to be carving this piece the black part (that is, the parts I have cut out with the scroll-saw) would be the uncarved portions of the carving whereas the portions I have not cut with the saw would be those I would carve out.  Thus, a complete reversal.

Here is the pattern that I created for the swimming loon:

I want to add a baby or two close to the swimming loon but, so far, I’m not happy with my efforts.  Over the years, I’ve taken many photos of baby loons near our island, but my best effort to come up with a pattern based on one of those photos just does not seen right.  Here it is:

I’ll take a day or so off then make a new attempt at a baby.

Edited March 17, 2018 by Frank Pellow

[meflick]

Thanks for sharing this and your work to date Frank.  Look forward to seeing your progress on it.

[Scrappile]

Frank, I'd say you are off to a beautiful start.  I love this art.  Thanks for showing us your progress.

[Frank Pellow]

OK, I think I managed to come up with a baby loon pattern that will work:

The thing that I realized is that I was  attempting to make baby loons look like adult loons.  They don't -rather they look a lot like baby ducks and baby geese.

Using that pattern, I will combine it with the swimming adult to look some thing like this:

Newborn loons really do often ride on their parent's back.

Edited March 16, 2018 by Frank Pellow

[spirithorse]

Cool!
Thanks also for the though processes you explained as you did the designing.

Just another thought as you go through the thinking process; you can also imagine
removing the bridges to keep everything joined and you have an intarsia pattern with
very little modifications. If I do an intarsia pattern like that, I do leave some of the
bridges to avoid having any sections in the center that have to be cut out like an in-lay
or anything. That's just my preference because I don't like cutting something out of the middle
of a section.

God Bless! Spirithorse

[Frank Pellow]

The Patterns:  Here they are:

 

Loon Diverting:

Haida panels seldom have large empty regions, so I added an abstract rocking island with trees (representing Pellow's Island in Lake Pivabiska) to the bottom right.  When I get around to cutting this, I will add some bridges.

Loons Protected:

The thingy at the top left represents clouds in the sky.  Again, bridges will be needed.

Edited March 18, 2018 by Frank Pellow

[Scrappile]

I think you did a great job on the patterns.  Thanks for sharing them.

[Dan]

Fantastic job! I love loons. I watched a mother with four babies on her back as the dad dove for fish, came up and fed the chicks. After the chicks were fed, they swam and climbed on dad's back while mom left to eat. It was a treasure to watch. 

[spirithorse]

Really looking good, Frank!
Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

[Frank Pellow]

OK, I have now cut both these out and, in the process, come up with somewhat better patterns:

I will put these into the pattern library here on Scrollsaw Village.

 

 

[Scrolling Steve]

You captured it just right, Frank !....Nice work !

[Trapper John]

Frank, although I missed the opportunity to reply previously it was not for lack of interest or failure to appreciate your work.  Your experience and familiarity with technique is precisely what I have been looking for.

I understand the differences between intarsia and marquetry and wish to try them both.  At present I have slipped into a black hole of learning, with the Haida/Tlingit style of formline art capturing my interest.  My reasoning is that if I take the time to truly learn the process my creations, like yours, will have more credibilty. I actually have several projects in mind once I build skills and knowledge a bit more!

[Frank Pellow]

22 hours ago, Trapper John said:

Frank, although I missed the opportunity to reply previously it was not for lack of interest or failure to appreciate your work.  Your experience and familiarity with technique is precisely what I have been looking for.

I understand the differences between intarsia and marquetry and wish to try them both.  At present I have slipped into a black hole of learning, with the Haida/Tlingit style of formline art capturing my interest.  My reasoning is that if I take the time to truly learn the process my creations, like yours, will have more credibilty. I actually have several projects in mind once I build skills and knowledge a bit more!

I've studied Haida/Tlingit style of formline and done some carving attempting to adhere to the formline "rules".  I expect that you have learned just how complex this art is while at the same time appearing to be simple.  I have several books on the subject and, in my opinion, the best is "Northwest Coast Indian Art -An Analysis of Form" by Bill Holm.  It was originally published in 1965 and then reissued in 2015 with additional colour illustrations.  

[meflick]

@Frank Pellow  I happened to run across a reference to this book "Pacific Northwest Coast Native Art in Marquetry" by Paul Dean  and remembered of your interest and didn't know if you had this particular book or not or would be interested in it.  So I'll share here just in case you are not and are.

https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Northwest-Coast-Native-Marquetry/dp/1775131602/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Pacific+Northwest+Coast+Native+Art+in+Marquetry+by+Paul+Dean&qid=1617226340&sr=8-1

[Frank Pellow]

37 minutes ago, meflick said:

@Frank Pellow  I happened to run across a reference to this book "Pacific Northwest Coast Native Art in Marquetry" by Paul Dean  and remembered of your interest and didn't know if you had this particular book or not or would be interested in it.  So I'll share here just in case you are not and are.

https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Northwest-Coast-Native-Marquetry/dp/1775131602/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Pacific+Northwest+Coast+Native+Art+in+Marquetry+by+Paul+Dean&qid=1617226340&sr=8-1

Thanks Melanie.  I have ordered the book.

[crupiea]

Fantastic,  I love this style.