Year: 2025
Mushroom Glow by Tomasz Pietrzyk (Artifact)
Ash and I did an Artifact 286-piece puzzle, “Mushroom Glow” by Tomasz Pietrzyk (https://www.tomekpietrzyk.art/en/), puzzle design by Matt Lyon. We broke into it last Tuesday (11/11) & got about halfway finished, then picked it up & finished it today. The bottom quarter of the puzzle was really challenging — pretty dark and hard with some […]
){kind=link}
Brand New Day by Clare Youngs (WerkShoppe 1000)
From my backlog, “Brand New Day” by Clare Youngs, WerkShoppe 1000. Fun! and easy!
){kind=link}
Autumn on Bow Bridge by Joy LaForme (Galison 1000)
I was attracted by Joy LaForme’s “Autumn on Bow Bridge”, and I did enjoy assembling this piece … but oh, Galison, why did you make 1000 pieces of the ABAB puzzle shape? no ABBB or AABB or AAAA? aggghhh … also, there were a number of large-ish chunks that were still assembled! Cardboard was fully […]
){kind=link}
Stranger by the Lake (Bare Ass Creek) by Ken Gun Min (Kinstler 1000)
Gorgeous artwork — “Stranger by the Lake (Bare Ass Creek)” by Ken Gun Min, which made for an amazing puzzle from Kinstler. What a fun puzzle! Also, pretty challenging! Lots of little colored or patterned sections, but so many that it was a little too busy for me to solve in a very organized fashion. […]
 by Ken Gun Min (Kinstler 1000)){kind=link}
Mid-Century Modern Dream Home by Diane Dempsey (Cobble Hill 1000)
Another fun Diane Dempsey mid-century modern style illustration, from Cobble Hill. A fast pleasurable solve.
){kind=link}
Winter Boughs by Laura McElfresh (Bewilderness)
Bewilderness (and at Etsy), 160 wooden pieces, tesselations. “Winter Boughs” by Laura McElfresh. Okay, wow, this was hard. A good third or half the pieces were all the exact same shape. There was one very large whimsy (pine-cone cut-outs) and a number of smaller whimsies (also pine-cones) and then a bunch of other pieces with […]
){kind=link}
Frank Lloyd Wright Fallingwater (Galison 500)
So glad I dropped the Cross & Glory AI puzzle and set up this Galison double-sided 500-piece puzzle, of Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater” (I really don’t know why it’s styled “Fallingwater” not “Falling Water” ….), instead. Puzzle link. Galison’s pieces are crispy but more solid than the one I was doing, and the puzzle cut […]
){kind=link}
puzzle abandoned
I couple of years ago I ran across “Cross & Glory” which, admittedly, had a bit of a scary name, but they said it was about England …. okay. The images were fun, and I bought three puzzles — “Petals & the Midnight Cat”, “Fantastical Treehouse Escape”, and “Caribbean Treasure Hunt”. When I got them […]
Tbilisi Square by David Martiashvili (Magnolia 1000)
Loved the art, loved the puzzle — it was almost as “velvety” as Art & Fable. Really nice. The one problem is that the art print seemed sort of pixellated — as if it was imaged at a lower resolution. Disappointing! and made it a little difficult. But I did really love this puzzle. “Tbilisi […]
){kind=link}
Harlequin Boardwalk by Ray Powers (SunsOut 500)
A quick solve — “Harlequin Boardwalk” by Ray Powers (https://www.raypowersart.com/ , https://raypows.piwigo.com , and https://raypows.piwigo.com/index?/category/52-puzzle_art ) — 500 pieces. The SunsOut puzzle cut is so random that it’s kind of a head-fuck in terms of assembly, especially where as here there were three big blocks — one dark geometric, one multicolored geometric, and one blue/white […]
){kind=link}
A Budmaster in His Shop (Workman 1000)
Parody of “A Goldsmith in His Shop” (1449) by Dutch Renaissance painter Peter Christus (1410/1420 – c. 1475/1476), but with pot! Parody (“satirical modification”) by James Williamson. This may have been my first Workman Publishing Puzzle. It was very like eeboo — high gloss, solid cardboard, standard piece sizes. The art, too, was like some […]
){kind=link}
Franklin Carmichael Collection (Cobble Hill 1000)
I really loved this puzzle! Cobble Hill Puzzles, 1000-piece, “Carmichael Collection” in the “Canadian Artist Series”. Franklin Carmichael (1890-1945), member of the Group of Seven, and a Theosophist …. The five included artworks are all in the collections at the Art Gallery of Ontario and include, clockwise from top left, “Light and Shadow” (1937), “Autumn […]
){kind=link}
Let the Outside In by Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins (Pomegranate 1000)
I picked this up on sale a while back, and pulled it out of my backlog for its surrealist autumnal vibes. It wasn’t difficult, but I didn’t love the solve. Lots of elements, patterns, etc., kept it moving (although … so. much. fur!) but I think I wasn’t really feeling the image. Anyway, happy to […]
){kind=link}
Ghost Garden by Catriona Crehan (Wentworth 500)
I really fell in love with this image when I saw it, but admittedly was a little disappointed when I looked around at Catriona Crehan (fontdiva on instagram, blankquilting.com) and saw that she does digital media and includes “AI”. Everything AI gives me foreboding and feels untrustworthy! But it is really an adorable image, so […]
){kind=link}
Agatha’s Apothecary by Helen Black (WerkShoppe 1000)
Another from my backlog (it will embarrassing to ultimately search all the posts with the word “backlog” — I went a little nuts in 2023-2024 in terms of buying puzzles!). This is from WerkShoppe, “Agatha’s Apothecary”, by Helen Black (Advocate-Art.com). The description says it’s “foil”, which I’m not quite sure what that means, but there […]
){kind=link}
Dia de los Muertos by Candy Mayer (Hennessy 1000)
Loved this “Dia de los Muertos” puzzle from Hennessy Puzzles (art by Candy Mayer). I love Hennessy’s whole collection and would happily do all of them! But I continue to work my way through a backlog. Still, this one is a keeper.
){kind=link}
Circles by Coral Bourgeois
Another of the puzzles from AreYouGame, this one “Circles” by Coral Bourgeois, in 309 pieces. There are not whimsies precisely, but there are some spirograph-like regular shapes embedded.
Shakespearean Insults
Man, this was super challenging. “Shakespearean Insults“, from the Unemployed Philosophers Guild — a 1000 piece puzzle. Pale blue and dark blue and black text, serif and sans serif, italics, camel case and all caps, and varying sizes … it was all totally doable but you had to stare at it a long time! Luckily […]
Carnival Train by Carl Strathmann (Art & Fable 500)
Gosh, I really love the Art & Fable puzzles — and I loved this 1913 image, “Carnival Train” (also frequently listed as “Carnival Parade”), by Carl Strathmann (1866-1939). (canvas, 105 cm x 171.5 cm, Municipal Gallery in Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich, https://sammlungonline.lenbachhaus.de/objekt/karnevalszug-maskentre-iben-300007267.html (this link from the puzzle description does not work, but more info here: […]
){kind=link}
Vintage Paris, from Willow Creek
A collage of vintage Paris iconography (dominated by la Tour Eiffel), assembled by Tina Higgins (possibly this Tina Higgins, at MHS Licensing, who is a graphic designer who works with vintage imagery), and published by Willow Creek. Also from my backlog! This was possibly my first Willow Creek puzzle — griddish but with more piece […]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »