Loon Family on Alert

[Frank Pellow]

When a loon is nesting and, later, when the chicks have been hatched but before they can dive, if a person or animal gets too close then one of the loon pair will move some distance (at least 20 metres) away, rise out of the water, flap its wings, a call out.  Note that sitting on the nest, looking after chicks, and causing a diversion are shared male and female job -either of the adult pair can fill either roles.  Most often, two chicks are born each spring.  Also, a chick often rides on the back of one of it's parents. 

I've attempted to capture all this in a pair of scroll-sawn works:

Loon Distracting:

Loons Protected:

The pair, entitled 'Loon Family on Alert' have been hung some distance apart in order to reflect what happens in nature:

The creation of the patterns for these pieces can be found in the thread:

Both the foreground and background pieces of this pair have been made from 3mm thick Baltic birch plywood.  After assembly, a couple of coats of clear satin Varethane was prayed on.  I made the frames out of poplar, stained them with Samen water-based stain, then applied several coats of Polymerized Tung oil.

My design was inspired by a painting by Glen Rabena a copy of which I placed into the thread that was referenced above:

Edited March 25, 2018 by Frank Pellow

[Phantom Scroller]

Very neat work love the photos as well. Roly

[DWSUDEKUM]

Frank those both came out fantastic.  Love the impressionistic feel of the works.  Thanks for sharing this with us... I know a place where those would fit quite nicely. A lodge over looking a lake with mountains in the background.... Thanks for sharing these very nicely done pieces of art.

 

DW

[newfie]

Nice work thanks for sharing 

[Scrolling Steve]

Thanks for sharing, Frank !........Nice work !

[daveww1]

very nice

[bobscroll]

Beautiful projects you've done there Frank! Thank you for posting,

Bob 

[Scrappile]

I love those.  Great work.

[Gordster]

Love them Frank....pictures show exactly what you wrote...nature sometimes amazing...thanks for the patterns

[Ron Johnson]

Very beautiful Native art Frank. 

[wombatie]

Love the photos, the patterns, the cuttings and the description.  Great work all round Frank.

Marg

[Frank Pellow]

On ‎2018‎-‎03‎-‎24 at 5:27 AM, DWSUDEKUM said:

Frank those both came out fantastic.  Love the impressionistic feel of the works.  Thanks for sharing this with us... I know a place where those would fit quite nicely. A lodge over looking a lake with mountains in the background.... Thanks for sharing these very nicely done pieces of art.

 

DW

Thanks Marg.

As to a place where these will fit nicely: They are going to go into our living room and I am probably going to either cut or carve another pair to go into my cabin on Lake Pivabiska -->

Edited March 25, 2018 by Frank Pellow

[keefie]

Beautiful work, they look great 

 

[amazingkevin]

On 3/24/2018 at 2:14 AM, Frank Pellow said:

When a loon is nesting and, later, when the chicks have been hatched but before they can dive, if a person or animal gets too close then one of the loon pair will move some distance (at least 20 metres) away, rise out of the water, flap its wings, a call out.  Note that sitting on the nest, looking after chicks, and causing a diversion are shared male and female job -either of the adult pair can fill either roles.  Most often, two chicks are born each spring.  Also, a chick often rides on the back of one of it's parents. 

I've attempted to capture all this in a pair of scroll-sawn works:

Loon Distracting:

Loons Protected:

The pair, entitled 'Loon Family on Alert' have been hung some distance apart in order to reflect what happens in nature:

The creation of the patterns for these pieces can be found in the thread:

Both the foreground and background pieces of this pair have been made from 3mm thick Baltic birch plywood.  After assembly, a couple of coats of clear satin Varethane was prayed on.  I made the frames out of poplar, stained them with Samen water-based stain, then applied several coats of Polymerized Tung oil.

My design was inspired by a painting by Glen Rabena a copy of which I placed into the thread that was referenced above:

Nice job!

[Dave Monk]

Love your project! Colors look great!

[Dave Monk]

On 3/25/2018 at 7:05 AM, Frank Pellow said:

Thanks Marg.

As to a place where these will fit nicely: They are going to go into our living room and I am probably going to either cut or carve another pair to go into my cabin on Lake Pivabiska -->

Great looking cabin Frank. How's the fishin there?

[Rockytime]

Great impression cutting! When as a young man I used to go fishing in northern Manitoba the first week of June when the ice was going out. Loved to see the loons and see moose swimming in the lakes.

[Frank Pellow]

1 hour ago, Dave Monk said:

Great looking cabin Frank. How's the fishin there?

Thanks Dave.  The fishing for pike is excellent and for pickerel it's OK.

I'm lucky in that my grandson Ethan (15) can clean pike so that he removes all the bones.  I can't do that.  Ethan is also an excellent cook.

I'm attaching photos taken last July of Ethan with a pike he caught, the fillets that he extracted, and two of the fish tacos that he made:

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Frank Pellow

[Frank Pellow]

29 minutes ago, Rockytime said:

Great impression cutting! When as a young man I used to go fishing in northern Manitoba the first week of June when the ice was going out. Loved to see the loons and see moose swimming in the lakes.

Thanks Les. 

We see loons from our island all the time.  But, swimming moose are rare.  In my lifetime, I have only seen moose swimming by the island a handful of times (but, the last time was two years ago).

[Dave Monk]

22 minutes ago, Frank Pellow said:

Thanks Dave.  The fishing for pike is excellent and for pickerel it's OK.

I'm lucky in that my grandson Ethan (15) can clean pike so that he removes all the bones.  I can't do that.  Ethan is also an excellent cook.

I'm attaching photos taken last July of Ethan with a pike he caught, the fillets that he extracted, and two of the fish tacos that he made:

 

Wow! really like Northern but there is  an art to cleaning them.

[spirithorse]

Thanks for the photos, Frank,
Looks to me like you are living a charmed life.
Keep Ethan spoiled, please! That's part of the grand-parents job, right?
God Bless! Spirithorse