Polar Bear

It seemed a while since I had a undertaken real jigsaw puzzle challenge so battling this bear just seemed the thing to do! Being the very cheap Surelox brand, the pieces did not fit together well, which is a shame, as otherwise this photo was fun complete. There were not a large variety of shapes in this 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, so there was a lot more reliance on the graduated shadings. Although the different areas seem reasonably distinct in the completed picture, it was not immediately easy to discern which went where when they were still randomly piled on the table. Initially it was a matter of concentrating on the darkest area of foliage in the foreground, then moving to the sky. Although there were purple tinged areas in the snow and rock background, they lacked the clear smoothness of the sky. Then it was time to concentrate on the way the yellow tinged fur coat of this placid looking polar bear was running, and as it was mainly in the same direction, he connected the undergrowth and sky very conveniently. After that there was little left to fill in via the snow shrouded rocks and bushes surrounding him. Doing this jigsaw puzzle on a chilly winter day added to the fun. Sort of!

Sacre Coeur

While in a scenic frame of mind, I decided to complete this striking Arrow brand 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of Sacre Coeur in France. This Roman Catholic church is located on the summit of Montmartre, the highest point in the city of Paris. The main part of this jigsaw puzzle was reasonably easy to assemble. It was merely a matter of initially working down the tree then across the gardens before moving into the stonework. The building had enough detail to simplify its completion then filling in the small patch of sky between it and the tree was quick to do as most pieces had a scrap of something solid to reference them to. The remaining pieces of totally blue sky probably made up the final one eighth of the photo. By concentrating on them by their shapes and moving between the slightly lighter and darker hues, that area was then filled in surprisingly quickly, to finalise an interesting view of this grand scenic monument.

Rhododendrons Mount Hood

In another tranquil photograph featuring flowers, this time we have a scenic vista of rhododendrons spread out in a field before Mount Hood in Oregon. This is a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle by Big Ben that shows the highest point in Oregon and the fourth highest peak in the Cascade Range. Mount Hood is considered the Oregon volcano that is most likely to erupt, although based on its history, an explosive eruption is deemed top be unlikely. At over 11,000 feet, or almost 3,500 metres, Mount Hood is very high, and the snowy mountain peak rises beautifully prominent from an extensive area of more lowly elevated land. The areas of comparatively similar tones made this a relatively easy jigsaw puzzle to assemble. Once the mountain filled sky was completed, followed by the far timberline and yellow flowers in the forefront, it was already easily half done. Then to finalise the lovely clustered pink rhododendrons only slowed the pace, not the pleasure.

Horses in a Field of Poppies

This is such a charming photo of a mare and foal in a tranquil setting that it had to be a charming experience to assemble this 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

It is from the comparatively cheap Fame brand so the pieces are somewhat thin but at the peaceful scene helped make up for that. At first glance it appeared to be a difficult jigsaw puzzle to put together but in fact the balance between the main areas of colour meant that each section of blue sky, white horse, brown foal and vermilion flowers could be easily isolated then connected. With the assistance of those pieces that overlapped a section of two main tones, no one area was too arduous to complete.

Cat Wash Bubbly Kitten Picture

This cute kitten in the wash tub picture was so much fun to do. Despite being only a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, the shadings and brush strokes in this painting made it reasonably challenging.

Stewart Sherwood is the artist and this jigsaw puzzle was published by Ceaco. After building up the edge it was necessary to pick out in small blocks of colour to work on. Otherwise it was too easy to drown in  the sameness of tonality of many of the pieces, especially as the painting has soft blurring lines and not the distinctness of a 'Cats by Margaret' one that I completed a little while back. Not that I was complaining. I was certainly having much more fun than the subject of this charming picture!.

Stunning Scenic View of Mont Blanc in France

A lot of patience was required to assemble the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of this amazing photograph by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

It can not be seen clearly, as this accompanying photo is quite small, but at the pinnacle of the tallest peak is a building! This 3,842 metre high mountain is named "Aiguille du Midi", which translates literally as "needle of midday". It is so called as the sun sits directly over the peak at noon, when viewed from Chamonix. The summit is reached by cable car and contains a panoramic viewing platform, a cafe and a gift shop.

The Bold and the Beautiful Horse Jigsaw Puzzle

I was planning to give the animals a rest and do a nice scenic picture for a change but this jigsaw puzzle depicting an unusual horse oil painting caught my eye at an internet auction.

This 1000 piece oil painting of a horse has quite large brush strokes, making it more of a challenge than others I have done recently. Although there was no close up detail such as in that gorgeous Cats by Margaret jigsaw puzzle, the vibrant colours and flowing form of this picture certainly gives it a real feeling of life. The only downside is that it is from the cheap Surelox range. Yes, they are very cheap to indeed buy, but the thin pieces do not sit well together and often curl up a fair bit so although the picture might be a pleasure to assemble, the physical pieces are not so enjoyable to handle.