Green Puzzles

In the midst of winter, most of us dream of spring and spring means green! So here's my list of some favorite green puzzles ...

1) Butchart Gardens -- Canada; published by Educa Puzzles; 1000 pieces; The Butchart Gardens are located on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Link to the gardens homepage.

2) Lempicka: Young Girl; published by Eurographics; 1000 pieces;

"Of all the artists pursuing the Art Deco style, one of the most memorable was Tamara De Lempicka. With French origins, Deco was part of an exotic, sexy, and glamorous Paris."

 

3) Natural Impressions in Green; published by Ravensberger; 3 x 500 piece puzzles

I love Clementoni puzzles ...

Clementoni Puzzles are a European (Italy I think) company that make very interesting and beautiful puzzles ... as this completed puzzle demonstrates. Very easy in parts and (sky and steps) and quite difficult in others (fountains mainly). Was a lot of fun to put together.

Yellow puzzles

Yellow is probably my favorite color ... so any puzzle that I admire and/or buy quite likely will have at least a little yellow in it. Finding puzzles with yellow as the dominant color wasn't as easy as blue or red ... but here we go ... five yellow puzzles.

*all images and information from Puzzlewarehouse.com

River Reflection by Springbok

World of Words by Ravensburger Puzzles

World of Words - 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Finished size: 27" x 20". Released January 2013.

Sunflowers by Clementoni

Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh - 1000 Pieces - Finished size: 26.5" x 18.25".

Sunset by Educa Puzzles

Sunset - 1000 pieces. 68x48cm.

Der Kuss by Gustav Klimt; published by Piatnik

1000 Pieces. Finished size: 26.5" x 17.4".

Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862– February 6, 1918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Klimt's primary subject was the female body. 

Yin-Yang

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin-yang (simplified Chinese: 阴阳; traditional Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng), which is often called "yin and yang", is used to describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world; and, how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Many natural dualities (such as light and dark, high and low, hot and cold, fire and water, life and death, and so on) are thought of as physical manifestations of the yin-yang concept. The concept lies at the origins of many branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of traditional Chinese medicine, and a central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as baguazhang, taijiquan (t'ai chi), and qigong (Chi Kung) and of I Ching.

Yin and yang are actually complementary, not opposing, forces, interacting to form a whole greater than either separate part; in effect, a dynamic system. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, (for instance shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation.
In Taoist metaphysics, good-bad distinctions and other dichotomous moral judgments are perceptual, not real; so, yin-yang is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu, (c. 2nd century BCE) a moral dimension is attached to the yin-yang idea.

The concept of yin and yang is often symbolized by various forms of the Taijitu symbol, for which it is probably best known in Western cultures.*

*entire excerpt copied from Wikipedia

this bit above especially resonates with me ... "good-bad distinctions and other dichotomous moral judgments are perceptual, not real; so, yin-yang is an indivisible whole"

this topic hit my radar via the following facebook status picture published by Pagan Musings

Red/Orange/Pink puzzles ...

blue puzzles were easy, in fact I found a lot more than I needed for one blog post. Since blues come in varying shades ... which are all still 'blue', simply modified with 'light' or dark' ... I've decided that pink, orange, and/or red will be my next category. So here we go ...

*again all images and info comes from puzzlewarehouse

Beauty of Nature -- Ravensburger

1000 piece jigsaw puzzle from Ravensburger. Finished size: 20 x 27. Released May 2013.

 Tinga Tinga Giraffes -- Heye Puzzles

Giraffes - Tinga Tinga art from Africa. 1000 piece puzzle. Finished size is approx.. 20" x 27". This series features art of the "Tinga Tinga Arts Co-operative Society," a unique collection of colorful art from Tanzania.

The Brilliance -- Clementoni Puzzles

The Brilliance - 1000 Pieces - Finished size: 26.5" x 18.25".
Clementoni's high quality puzzles are imported from Italy. Their landscape and fine art puzzles have made
them one of the most respected jigsaw puzzle manufacturers in the world.
 

Klee Selencio -- Clementoni Puzzles

1000 pieces. Finished size: 18.75" x 26.6". Artist: Paul Klee. Released 2013.

Candy Galore -- Springbok

Candy Galore ... What more can we say?  A mouthwatering image no matter what your age!  A Best Selling 2006 Winter/Spring Collection Puzzle.  1000 piece, Finished size 24" x 30"

Fallingwater and Stamps

in a previous post I was showing pictures of and discussing Frank Lloyd Wright ... I even posted a scan of stamp of the man. I also included a picture of one of his most famous architectural works Fallingwater. What I failed to include was a scan of the stamp commemorating THAT structure ... so here it is:

issued in 1982 Scott #2019; part of se-tenant block of 4 stamps

Blue Puzzles ...

Continuing my summer obsession of jigsaw puzzling, I thought I would construct a series of posts featuring attractive 'color-themed' puzzles. Starting with the color BLUE as the dominant color ...

*all images and info from Puzzlewarehouse.com

POMEGRANATE PUZZLES -- Los Loros by Peruvian Artist Pablo Amaringo (1938-2009),
painted in 2005. 500 piece jigsaw puzzle - Finished size: 24" x 18". Released July 2012.

CLEMENTONI PUZZLES -- Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany - 1000 Pieces - Finished size: 26.5" x 18.25".

BUFFALO GAMES PUZZLES -- Beautiful Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of Italy, town of Vernazza, lit up
against the night's sky. 2000 pieces, measures 38.5" x 26.5" when complete. By Buffalo Games. Released 2012.

HEYE PUZZLES --The Alexander von Humboldt puzzle series inspires both through impressive natural photography
and unique format! The extensive image selection is exciting and thrilling to puzzle. 1000 Pieces. Finished size 37" x 13".

EDUCA PUZZLES -- The Starry Night, Van Gogh - 1000 pieces. 68x48cm.

Harry Wysocki ... Bridges of San Francisco

Beautiful puzzle, the black kitty was much harder to find this time. Again I worked from the inside out, leaving the edge until last. Picture on the box left off about 1/5 of the puzzle on the right ... in the puzzle itself there are two red cars on the bridge while the box only shows one ... I was very 'puzzled' until I looked on the back of the box and found a much smaller picture that solved the mystery.

Anyway here's the box

Bridges of San Francisco by Heronim Wysocki; published by Mega Puzzles Hometown Collection

Here's the completed puzzle (you can see the second red car to the right that is NOT on the front of the box, nor is the boat under the bridge ...) and below that a close-up to see some of the detail

Tinga Tinga Cranes by Mbwana

My first puzzle by Heye publishers ... stunningly beautiful, and was a lot trickier to put together than I thought it would be. Heye is a German puzzlemaker and publishes some very attractive puzzles. Puzzlewarehouse carries quite a few ...

The box:

The puzzle:

and some closeups ...

Outing at the Light by Heronim Wysocki

Outing at the Light by Heronim Wysocki

I recently purchased three puzzles off of eBay ... part of the Hometown Collection which is carried and sold by Mega Brands Mega Puzzles division ... yeah I know ... so far as I can tell, most of the Hometown Collection puzzles are by Heronim Wysocki, brother of Charles Wysocki. See my previous post for more information and discussion.

My first impression of the puzzle was that it was much more cheaply made than the puzzles I'm used to. Much thinner pieces. Since I bought the puzzle off of eBay, I wasn't certain whether it was used or not. Either the company or the previous owner had very considerately baggied the edge pieces ... so I wasn't sure how to proceed ...

I decided to NOT work the edge first as most people do (myself included), instead I thought that it would be interesting and fun to work from the middle out. And it was ...

The final product without edges ... turns out that edges are really easy if you do it this way. About 10 minutes was all it took to put the edges on.

edge pieces in the baggie

and finally, Heronim's trademark ... the black kitty, not really hidden in this puzzle, so it's no giveaway ...

the lower quality pieces didn't detract from the attractiveness of the picture or the enjoyment of the puzzling process. I'm glad since I have two more of them to work (and also because these puzzles are a bit less expensive than many of the other brands I like).