Call of the Sea

On June 2, 2020June 2, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This gorgeous image by Josephine Wall was thoroughly entertaining, more than a little bit of a challenge, and wonderful quality – in short – the perfect puzzle at the perfect time.

It’s been a while since I’ve assembled an Anatolian puzzle, and it was my first of their smaller piece counts. The pieces were lovely to hold, a good thickness and fit together beautifully. You can see from the picture above that the image reproduction is excellent; the colors were lovely, and even where the details in the artwork seem to blur into one another the actual image is crisp and clear.

I’ve done only a handful of images by Josephine Wall; I find the artwork to be dazzling, exquisite, pretty, pleasing to the eye and a host of other words that fail me at the moment. But for me, and only for me, they’re not always what I’m looking for in a puzzle image. It’s always so different for each and every puzzler, we all have something specific that we are or aren’t looking for.

I’ve learned that gorgeous pictures don’t always make for entertaining puzzles. I can love to look at something, appreciate it’s balance, color, motif, etc. – but know that if it were cut up into little pieces that it wouldn’t be fun for me to put back together. It’s something you get a feel for the more puzzles you assemble, and you find what images you most enjoy putting together.

After many, many, many puzzles I am still learning. Sometimes a puzzle that wouldn’t normally catch my eye makes for a fantastically entertaining assembly and I find myself surprised by it. Mom used to buy puzzles at the thrift store that I would never have gotten for myself; and I found myself shocked at how enjoyable they were. The opposite can also be true; I purchase an image that I’m in love with, only to find that the actual assembly was disappointing for me.

Josephine Wall creates stunningly beautiful works of art; but they’re not always the easiest to assemble as puzzles. Call of the Sea is gorgeous, and I consider myself lucky to have found it in a smaller piece count that brought down the level of difficulty. I didn’t want too much of a challenge with this one, so I went for the tiny piece count – I’m a chicken of the sea! 🤣

Call of the Sea In Progress

On May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling14 Comments

Call of the Sea IP — Call of the Sea by Josephine Wall – Anatolian – 260 pieces

I have been having some real difficultly with my meds lately, and until 11 o’clock last night hadn’t touched a new puzzle since I finished Quilts last week. It only came off the board yesterday, it had been sitting there all weekend. If you knew me you’d know that’s weird; I finish a puzzle, take my pictures, make sure they’re good, and immediately disassemble the puzzle and decide on a new one.

But thankfully I finally got myself out of bed last night when hubby was blissfully snoring and sleep eluded me. I was just going to sit in the living room and watch tv, but ended up being drawn to my puzzle board.

I chose a puzzle with fewer pieces than normal, this beautiful Josephine Wall image is only 260 pieces. It’s the best of both worlds for me; it’s a smaller piece count so that even if I have to spend much less time in my puzzle chair I can still make good progress, and it’s a Jo Wall, so it isn’t so easy as to be boring – my mind will still be active and engaged.

Working on anything fun today? I’d love to hear about it!

Ocean of Dreams

On March 9, 2017May 19, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This beauty took sooooo much longer and was much more difficult than I anticipated. Several times I debated with myself about putting it away and trying it another time, but in the end I didn’t let myself give up and finally got it finished. It’s gorgeous isn’t it?

Josephine Wall puzzles are just stunning, even looking at the pieces all jumbled up you can tell how beautiful the end result is going to be. Add glitter to the mix and you’ve got an even more appealing puzzle. I don’t know how Buffalo adheres the glitter to the puzzle – it is on there but good! There was no excess glitter in the box or on my board after assembly and disassembly. Wow!

This was a puzzle I purchased new (had to spend enough money to get free shipping) 😉 I couldn’t resist the image, and I knew it would have the usual excellent Buffalo quality. I wasn’t disappointed, but I was shocked at how difficult I found it. I don’t know if it was the image or my brain or a combination of both, but this puzzle took me quite some time to complete. I’m not complaining, and in fact I’m pretty darn proud of myself for sticking with it!

Spirit of the Elements

On December 20, 2016January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

My mom was surprised I wanted to do this puzzle, but I thought it looked like fun- and who can say no to glitter?? I was in the mood for an image that wasn’t a collage or too busy, and this one spoke to me for some reason.

It was also from another puzzle company that I’d never tried before, TCG. When my husband sat down to help me, he commented on how nicely the pieces fit together, and I agree. They fit together very satisfyingly. There were only 2 piece shapes, which isn’t ideal, but the image is gorgeous. Josephine Wall does things with blending and color that are absolutely stunning! This was my first puzzle with her artwork, but it definitely won’t be my last.

Even with the sameness of the piece shapes, I still enjoyed the assembly very much. Another wonderful thrift store purchase. Mom is always finding the coolest puzzles! Thanks mom!