subject: trees
Artifact Puzzles Abu al-Hasan Squirrels
From Artifact Puzzles, via Hoefnagel, public domain art by Abu al-Hasan (1589-1630) or possibly Ustad Mansur. Squirrels in a plane tree by Abu al-Hasan (1589 – c. 1630) , Mughal India. Ash and I liked this one – the geometric shape to the “square” pieces, the whimsies, the border …. Artifact says: Here is a […]
Mr. Z’s Sugar Maples
update: Finished! Whew. I will admit that I enjoyed the last third, which went quickly, the best. This puzzle (from Hoefnagel) is kicking my ass, a little, which I wasn’t quite expecting. Although maybe I should have, given the artwork! There’s some color line cutting, but I’m not sure that’s it — it’s the artwork […]
Magic Forest by Corgi
I found this “Magic Forest” (art by Frank Champine) puzzle by “Corgi” at PuzzleHouse.com, and as it was lovely tree art, I went for it. 500 pieces, 13″x19″. A colorful water color painting of a forest with trees reflecting in the river. The original art for these Corgi puzzles is printed on acid free 80# […]
Birches in Bits, Leanne Poellinger
“Birches in Bits” by Leanne Poellinger, from Anthology Puzzles – 83 pieces, 4.5 x 5.7″.
Fall Bloom by Chris Huang, Liberty
Fall Bloom by Chris Huang, from Liberty Puzzles. A relatively quick and easy solve. I liked the variety of patterns in the art, and the Liberty-style whimsies, both single-piece and multi-piece. I really liked how all the arachnid whimsies were in the soil …. On the art … are all these trees with their roots […]
Palmaris Enchanted Forest
Very pretty forest photography, with a large whole-puzzle piece-figure of a tree, and incredibly detailed etchings with yet more tree themes. Quite doable, with only 222 pieces, but required some attention and both shape- and color-matching were helpful. Palmaris description: Story Excerpt: It’s been said that trees can talk to each other. They can send […]
Internet Owl Cafe, Artifact
Coincidentally, just after doing the Paris Map, I got a Hoefnagel package with another VladStudio illustration! This also came with one of the lovely little Hoefnagel surprises — Mardi Gras beads from the previous puzzler! Awww…. Anyway, the black/white/blue color scheme made this puzzle a bit more challenging than one would expect. Plus, the protrusions […]
Wentworth Japanese Maple mini
Such a pretty image, this “Japanese Maple” (art by Moises Levy) from Wentworth. Ash and I knocked off the 40-piece version in just a few minutes, and appreciated the tree-themed whimsies as well as the art. I wanted to find out more about the artist and these works — photograph, digitally manipulated, I guess? His […]
Basis Wood “Tree”
Well, I was not expecting this! A layered, shaped tree …. Definitely required attention to the color gradation in each chunk of branches. Layers is probably not the right term. The puzzle is 3-dimensional, in that different sections have different thicknesses — four in total. The trunk and branches are all pretty thin, and the […]
Mr Bob, Birds in a Tree by Rebecca Cool
Loved this art by Rebecca Cool, “Birds in a Tree” — Mr Bob puzzles from Australia, 525 piece version, via Hoefnagel Puzzles.
Tom Thomson, Soft Maple in Autumn
Lovely puzzle from Stumpcraft, Tom Thomson’s “Soft Maple in Autumn” — sneaky puzzle cutting from Jasen Robillard, too; lots of little “fishies” cut out that made shapes look like they would take a convex instead of a concave (or vice versa). I particularly liked the unusual canoe cutout of a person carrying a canoe on […]
Tannenwald by Klimt, by Liberty
Beautiful image by Klimt, and a fast & fun puzzle by Liberty. Weirdly, the whimsies in this cut were western-style figures … not tailored to this image. Still, a nice fast puzzle for me and Ash.
This Is It by Cecile Albi
“This Is It” by Cecile Albi, mini-puzzle, puzzle design by Jasen Robillard. A really beautiful little 62-piece puzzle from StumpCraft. Ash and I knocked it off very quickly today. But, we didn’t notice this cool feature! That some of the pieces can be reversed to make a little back/front mini-whimsy scene.
The Skyline Was Beautiful on Fire
Finished Stumpcraft puzzle “The Skyline Was Beautiful on Fire” by Steve Driscoll. Fun and requiring a reasonable amount of attention to detail of color and shape. The picture online has more brilliant colors / contrasts than the printed puzzle, and two pieces had tiny wood dings, which made me sad. Otherwise, quite enjoyable, and wholly […]
tree-themed mini puzzles
Ash and I did two tree-themed mini wood puzzles today. The first was a mini (16-piece) tessellation from Bewilderness — 16 tree shapes, forming a large tree shape, and the picture was also a forest of trees. Ash enjoyed setting up the tree pieces as dominos …. …. We also really enjoyed this pin oak […]
Autumn Aspen by Laura McElfresh
“Autumn Aspen”, puzzle from Bewilderness; 326 piece version, with geometric pieces; 11×16″. Art by Laura McElfresh. So pretty! Fairly challenging given the low-key color palette, with a good bit of repetition of color blocks. Started with the large block teal in the middle bottom and the right. The squared pieces are fun for me; you […]
Cavallini Arboretum
Enjoyably challenging, requiring real focus on details of tree textures, variation of color, etc. Cavallini has few wrong connections, which I appreciate. Second time I’ve had Cavallini pieces still connected & then tore the paper off one of the tabs while disconnecting. )-8 And, I really wish the original captions had been in English rather […]
Andy Kehoe “Inner Mystic: Wondrous Journey”
This beautiful puzzle (“Inner Mystic: Wondrous Journey” by Andy Kehoe) from Heye proved fairly challenging — not least, because there were so many false matches among the puzzle pieces. I had appreciated the curvier innie-outie pieces, but while the shapes are pleasing, there were too many that mis-matched! Grr. Anyway, the real draw was the […]
25-Year Journey by Janet MacKay
Loved this puzzle — so satisfying. The subject was lovely and right up my alley (and called to me after doing the National Parks puzzle). The puzzle design was also extraordinarily pleasing. The intricate curvey pieces that could often be recognized only by a little divot or odd corner …. The whimsies, of course — […]
Peggy Collins “Worship of Trees”
For a 500-piece puzzle (Goodway Puzzles), this was surprisingly difficult — the stained gloss blockings have many similar colors, and all the black outlines combined with similar colors made color-matching challenging! Satisfyingly challenging.
