Happy Here by Jessica Hische – Buffalo (Premium) – 300 pieces

I enjoyed this puzzle, although being on my pain medication while assembling it made me feel slow and stupid, and at times I thought this was way too difficult for me to finish. It obviously wasn’t – but this wasn’t an easy one, that’s for sure!

Back in October when I was putting this one together I commented on the quality and how it leaves something to be desired. The chipboard seemed almost warped and it didn’t lay completely flat, and the fit seemed off somehow – it wasn’t the usual Buffalo quality that I’m used to. So, if this is their “premium”, I will happily stay with the regular old Buffalo puzzles thank you very much. I commend them on wanting to improve their puzzles and make them better for us, but this experiment seems a failure to me. This is the second or third of their premium puzzles I’ve assembled, and I have been underwhelmed by all of them.

This was my first puzzle with artwork by Jessica Hische, and I was surprised that it looks as if it were colored with a pencil…

There’s nothing wrong with it, the finished image is beautiful; perhaps it’s just something I’m not used to. It does make me think that this is actual artwork and that somehow I’m helping support a company that still uses the work of real artists rather than just whipping up images on a computer with artificial intelligence. I will admit though that some of those AI images they come up with are stunningly beautiful and look like they’d be really fun to assemble.

This is what happens when you try to stand up a puzzle that doesn’t really have the right fit, and it’s also why I try to take all the pictures I’ll need before I try it. The fit was one of those that made me unsure whether or not it would be able to stand up; in places it seemed tight enough, but obviously it wasn’t. Oops. 😂

I wasn’t happy with this puzzle’s quality, but I still had a good time putting it together (for the most part). It’s very pretty and was a nice change of pace for me after finishing the first section of my current big puzzle. Lovely artwork!