Liberty Leading the People

On August 24, 2026August 24, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Liberty Leading the People by Eugéne Delacroix – Professor Puzzle – 50 pieces

While my daughter and I were loitering around the bookstore she found this little 50 piece puzzle in a tiny little box, how could I not give it a try for only $3.99? It’s another of those fine art puzzles where the only way I would ever assemble it is in a mini puzzle; I can’t imagine how difficult this very dark and indistinct image would be to assemble in a larger piece count like 500 or 1000 pieces.

I know I’ve seen the image before, but honestly I didn’t know the name of the image or the artist. I wish I’d looked around where my daughter found this little guy to see if they were any more fine art images to choose from. There’s a blurb on the back of the box that tells about the artwork. A key figure in French Romanticism, Eugéne Delacroix painted Liberty Leading the People to commemorate the July Revolution of 1830, which dethroned King Charles X. The painting suggests that the people of all classes came together to rally against royalist oppression and fight for a better society.

It’s a great quality puzzle for one so small, and I love that it isn’t all ballerina pieces like many mini puzzles. The main shapes are these…

Other than the edge pieces these are the only shapes there are to work with. I found it interesting, and even though these were the only shapes it wasn’t boring to put this puzzle together. They were a good thickness, very sturdy, and fit together well. Although the backing was the sharp, white paper that I don’t care for, with only 50 pieces it wasn’t too bad to work with. The image reproduction is lovely, as far as I can tell with such a dark image. Overall I was impressed with the quality of this little puzzle, and would love to find all the rest of the mini fine art puzzles in this series.

Momma always told me when a puzzle is very big or very small that you have to give perspective, to place something next to the puzzle to let you really appreciate the size. It’s a small puzzle, that comes in a very small box. Isn’t it a cute little thing?

The Sunflowers

On July 18, 2026June 12, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles12 Comments

The Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh – Trefl – 200 pieces

Oh man was I super excited to find a wooden puzzle at the thrift store – it’s never happened to me before and even better than just finding it – it was new, unopened! I couldn’t believe my luck and was so excited to assemble it. I had a puzzle on my board and was looking forward to finishing it quickly so I could get to work on this one. Sigh. As you can see, it’s more than just missing a few pieces; by my count it is missing 42 pieces. ☹

Both Penny and hubby brought up that it might just look like it hadn’t been opened, someone could have opened and assembled it and then did some fancy stuff to make it look like new when it was donated. It’s a possibility, but I don’t think that’s what happened. They could have made the outside look unopened, but the puzzle itself is in a paper bag sealed with a Trefl sticker showing the image on the puzzle and what looks like a product number. That bag was also unopened, the sticker had never been removed or peeled away from the paper. I believe it came from the factory this way, but I cannot say for sure. Even though this is the first Trefl puzzle I have ever done, I can’t with certainty say whether the missing pieces are the fault of the company so I can’t speak about their quality control without knowing whose fault this was.

What makes this even more upsetting for me was not only are so many pieces missing, it is a double-sided puzzle! Have you ever heard of a double-sided wooden puzzle? I hadn’t. When I started turning pieces over I was shocked that there’s an image on the back, a black line drawing of sunflowers. If this had been a complete puzzle it would have made me so happy to have found it for only $4.99. A shaped wooden puzzle, inside a rectangular puzzle, with another image on the back – how cool is that? Now it’s basically just an extra box to put in the recycling.

It was so interesting to me that this wasn’t just a rectangular puzzle of the artwork, but the vase of sunflowers itself could be done by itself as a shaped puzzle. This puzzle is just so different from every other wooden puzzle I’ve ever done, it would have been a definite keeper had it been complete.

Other than the fact that 20% of this puzzle was missing, it was relatively good quality. The pieces were about the same thickness as a Wentworth with a matte finish, the fit was quite loose but not too much so, the pieces of the frame were regularly shaped and the inner part of the puzzle had more irregular shapes – it should have five whimsies, but they were absent. You can see from their missing shapes that they were a chair, a bed, a leaf, a sunflower, and a vase of sunflowers.

This puzzle was quite a disappointment, but here’s how I’m choosing to look at it – I didn’t pay full price and I did get about two hours of quality puzzle time out of it even if it was incomplete. My job was to put together all the pieces until none were left, I completed my mission. Where else can you get two hours of entertainment that’s also good for your health for only five dollars? And, as a bonus, I saved someone else from spending their hard-earned money on a puzzle with so many missing pieces. Yay me!

Disappointing, but still I had a good time putting together the pieces that were there. That’s how I’m choosing to look at it. Onward to the next puzzle!

Woman with a Parasol, Facing Right

On January 6, 2024January 1, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Woman with a Parasol, Facing Right by Claude Monet – Robert Frederick – 100 pieces

I really wanted to enjoy this puzzle, sadly I was quite disappointed in it’s quality. Fine Art puzzles can be quite difficult with the painterly style and brush strokes, but the bent pieces and overly shiny finish made it even more troublesome than usual.

This was my first time with a Robert Frederick puzzle, and while I don’t like to make snap judgements I was pretty let down by this brand. I’ll hold off making a decision about the brand in general until there have been one or two more puzzles assembled, but so far it ain’t looking good.

Although the pieces were quite thick and sturdy, that in itself made the first problem I’m going to tell you about even worse. There were SO MANY bent pieces! And with a thick and sturdy chipboard, once it’s bent trying to get it back into shape is a losing battle. The finished puzzle didn’t lie flat because of all the bent pieces that I couldn’t get back to their original configuration.

My second issue with this puzzle was the EXTREMELY shiny finish. It was so shiny that even with the lightest areas of the puzzle I was constantly having to tilt my head to be sure what the piece actually looked like. I’m not a fan of the extra shiny coating on a puzzle. Not everyone can work with natural lighting (my puzzle board is in a room with only artificial lighting) and the shine makes it very difficult to see what you’re doing.

On the positive side…there were a good variety of piece shapes, the chipboard was thick and sturdy, and the fit was very nice. But to me those things don’t mean much with bent pieces that prevent the puzzle from lying flat and a shiny finish that makes it difficult to see what you’re doing under any artificial lighting.

While I love the actual artwork by Monet, this isn’t an image that I would dare to try in a larger piece count. Finding it in only 100 pieces made me quite happy, but unfortunately the quality left a lot to be desired.

Garden Study of the Vickers Children

On August 26, 2023August 26, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Garden Study of the Vickers Children by John Singer Sargent – Laurel Ink – 500 pieces

Fine Art puzzle images aren’t usually my thing, but there was something about this one that I couldn’t resist; there’s something about the faces of the children but I’m not sure I could articulate what that is. Not only is the artwork striking, but the puzzle is from a company I hadn’t heard of before – the added excitement of trying out a new brand!

The quality of this puzzle was good/very good. The chipboard is a good thickness and there are an excellent variety of piece shapes. The fit is very good, as is the image reproduction; the finish was somewhat shiny which did cause me a few problems, but it wasn’t too bad. My only quality concern was quite a few pieces still attached.

Whoever assembled this puzzle before didn’t separate all the pieces; so there were probably about 40 or more with two pieces attached, and some with more than three or four pieces still connected together. Separating the pieces caused little bits of cardboard to stick up at the corners of the pieces, and in some places it shows in the finished image. Overall though, it was a good quality puzzle which made me very happy.

The entire back of the box was dedicated to a small biography of the painter, John Singer Sargent. It was an interesting read, and I enjoyed both learning about him and his work and assembling the puzzle.

I really did well on my last trip to the thrift store. I found both this one and the 65 year old Tuco; Mom would be proud. 💖

Still Life – Fast Moving

On January 14, 2022January 14, 2022 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Still Life-Fast Moving by Salvador Dali – Ravensburger – 300 pieces

Oh man this was so much fun, it was done in one sitting! I should have taken a break, I should have taken several breaks – because I paid for my insistence on staying seated for that long – but it was worth it. I love puzzles. 💛

This was a fantastic puzzle to do after the horrid mandala by Page Publications; this was like eating fresh fruit after having to lick garbage – it tastes like nectar from the gods. Sorry for the gross imagery, but honestly the difference between the two was equally as great. Ravensburger quality – especially with the smaller piece counts – is excellent!

This is actually the first image by Salvador Dali that I’ve done and I enjoyed it very much. Famous art doesn’t always make for the most entertaining puzzles (for me anyways), and I haven’t seen one of Dali’s works from a good brand that I wanted to assemble until now. Eternal thanks to my friend and fellow puzzle blogger Nicola from Puzzler1909 for sending this in our puzzle swap – it was lovely!