subject: nature
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 […]
Brand New Day by Clare Youngs (WerkShoppe 1000)
From my backlog, “Brand New Day” by Clare Youngs, WerkShoppe 1000. Fun! and easy!
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sierra Range by Charley Harper (Pomegranate 1000)
I love Charley Harper art — nature scenes, plus geometric shapes, bright colors — and love the Pomegranate puzzles of Charley Harper. This one was on my to-do pile, and I’m pushing through a lot of puzzles right now …. I really love running my hand over completed Pomegranate puzzles. Somehow it’s more satisfying than […]
Mid Summer Night Dream by Enzhao Liu
I’d had this 1000-piece puzzle (“Mid Summer Night Dream” by Enzhao Liu) from Antelope for a while, and was leery of doing it because it seemed dark and hard, but actually it came together very quickly and beautifully. There was lots of variation in the various birds and tree forms, and even the night sky […]
Apro Vision, “Moon Castle”
Via Hoefnagel, I got this laser-cut 152-piece (“A4 size”) puzzle from “Apro Vision”, which appears to be one of the randomly generated names that Chinese laser cutters create to sell on Amazon. It’s a pretty cool and tricky image — many little doors in various sizes, plus some gears, and trees in various teacups (surrealist […]
Purr-fect Night by Mary Stubberfield
Wentworth Puzzles, 240 pieces, “Purr-fect Night” by Mary Stubberfield, via Hoefnagel. Another thin, MDF wood, mix of traditional pieces with etched whimsies. I liked this art better than the owl puzzle that was also in the Hoefnagel pack, but the puzzling experience otherwise was very similar.
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 […]
Summer in the Tetons, Jan McGuire, Stave
Hoefnagel lets you have the opportunity to do the beautiful hand-cut puzzles that would otherwise be out of range for me — for instance, Stave’s “Summer in the Tetons” (510 pieces, dated 2004). I don’t know why the Stave website doesn’t list the artist, but googling suggests that this is a work by Colorado-based artist […]
Winter Reading Nook by Aimee Stewart, Zen teaser
I think it’s fair to say that the decline in democracy in this country has made it difficult for me to do jigsaw puzzles. But Ash and I still manage to knock out a small one periodically. The small puzzles from Zen are very doable even in a highly distracted mindframe. “Winter Reading Nook” is […]
Victory (original), “Gay Harbour, Cornwall”
I think I can call these boats, right? not ships? From the Hoefnagel collection. This is a “Victory Puzzle”, from the original UK company of that name, from the 1950s, with about 350 pieces per Hoefnagel. Hoefnagel description: 350 pieces, hand-cut, irregular connectors. Victory Plywood Jig-saw Puzzles were made in the 1950s in England and […]
Sunrise in a Winter Forest, Zen Puzzles
“Sunrise in a Winter Forest” is one of several Zen Puzzles that Ash and I are working our way through. This is a peaceful winter scene, but I do wonder at some of the shadows — why such large blobs that are not apparent on the trees themselves? Are these shadows like the shadows in […]
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The Fall by Victor Zaretsky, Dreamton 400
I finally did this lovely painting by Ukrainian artist Victor Zaretsky (maybe Viktor with a “k”? not sure which version is preferred) (1925-1990), “The Fall”, from the Ukrainian laser cutter, Ihor Reshetnikov (Dreamton, via Etsy). (Puzzle available at etsy.) I found this painting discussed on Reddit, under the title “Autumn Wind” — you can see […]
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