subject: cityscape
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Roch Urbaniak, Unexpected Visitor
My neighbor and I have a lovely little neighborhood wooden puzzle lending program, and she has this Artifact puzzle I’ve been yearning to do — “Unexpected Visitor” by Roch Urbaniak. The Urbaniak image is beautiful, and the cut design by David Figueiras was lovely — geometric rows, plus fun astronomical / night themed whimsies, with […]
The Big Apple, Zen
Ash and I knocked out another Zen Puzzle, this one, “The Big Apple“. Ash and I recognized 4 out of 5 whimsies, but such is our financial innocence that we were like, “why is there a cow in New York City?” “Financial innocence” sounds nicer (& judgy of other people instead of judgy of ourselves) […]
Christmas Market, Angela Holland, Ravensburger 1000
An official winter holiday / christmas puzzle — “Christmas Market“, art by Angela Holland — 1000 piece Ravensburger. It was a pretty nice assembly.
Twilight in Umbria, Paul Jorgensen
Another beautiful 500-piece puzzle from Art & Fable, “Twilight in Umbria” by Paul Jorgensen.
Dowdle Brooklyn Bridge, Elms
Finished this 121-piece Elms hand-cut puzzle of an Eric Dowdle image, “Brooklyn Bridge“, cut by “Kristin”. It was part of a Hoefnagel pack, both of which were fun fast solves.
Vibrant Village, CraftHub
I ordered a bunch of puzzles from “PuzzlesUp”, which was closing, and it turned out they were all labeled “CraftHub”. Hmm. Anyway, I liked the image. The pieces were pretty interlocking. This puzzle is called “Vibrant Village”.
Karla Gerard Night Song, from Artifact
A beautiful puzzle loaned to us by my neighbor Yael; Ash and I did some of it, then I finished it off. I really enjoyed this puzzle — kind of a riff on “traditional” style pieces, with quite a few fun and interacting whimsies. Looking at the back, the almost radial symmetry was well done, […]
Mr Bob, Italy
Courtesy of Hoefnagel, a puzzle from Mr. Bob (“Burano, Italy”) with photography by Australian photographer Garry Schlatter — I finished it Friday July 26, but one piece is missing! Agh. Will keep looking …. Update: Whew! It turns out the piece was taped to the inside of the shipping box — I guess it was […]
Puzzlapy, Cats in Paris
“Cats in Paris“, the 120-piece version, by Puzzlapy aka Isabelle Rouillard. The artist is Isy Ochoa. – and browsing her website, I learned that she did a picture book about Rosa Bonheur! I loved this puzzle, and the cuts! Some beautiful color line cutting of the cats, and the little bird, and the Tour Eiffel. […]
Moonlight Falcon by Oxana Zaika
Nautilus discontinued this puzzle, “Moonlight Falcon” by Oxana Zaika, and I was wondering why, because it’s such a fabulous image — licensing for the image? or, perhaps the figural of the horseback guy with the scimitar a little too orientalist and problematic? Regardless, the image is fabulous, and I was excited by all the fun […]
Madmar “The Cathedral”
An old puzzle, “Madmar Picture Puzzle Blue Ribbon Series”, 118 pieces, marked with 1.75 — presumably the price? Madmar Quality Co., Utica New York. I got it from ebay, which is new for me. (More about Madmar at Bob’s Old Puzzles.) Beautifully papered on the back — I was really charmed by this. Sort of […]
Diana Zimens City of Cats (Davici)
Fun, steady solving – lots and lots and LOTS of cats! 700 pieces. Hoefnagel Puzzle Club. The artist is named as Diana Zimens at Hoefnagel, but I’ve seen her listed elsewhere as Diana Siemens.
Papercut Partridge
From Puzzle Lab, “Papercut Patridge”, a winter scene puzzle based on art (“Journey to the Light”) by Morgana Wallace. Lots of line-cutting made this one pretty challenging. Description: Take off into a dreamy holiday winterscape as you piece together this intricate line-cut puzzle featuring a festive papercut piece by Victoria-based artist Morgana Wallace. Morgana’s medium […]
Art Cafe by Otar Imerlishvili (Art & Fable 1000)
I really enjoyed this one! Beautiful, fun art, steady assembling. Lots of different patterns, and a fair amount of repetition of the patterns, with slight variants, in different parts of the puzzle. The green horn was what I ended on, and there were a lot of different shades of green to work through. (And of […]
Streets of Havana
Enjoyed this whimsy-filled puzzle of Havana, from Mosaic Puzzles. The image provenance is not clear to me — it is listed as “(c) 2021 Assaf Frank” — but I have seen very many similar or identical images, so I wonder if this is either a common framing, or a photoshop of a public domain [or […]