We just finished putting together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of this Tom Thomson masterpiece. I can’t say it was the favorite of all the puzzles we’ve completed. A puzzler is forced to examine a work up close and Jack Pine is one of those paintings that looks better, I assume, from across the gallery. And it’s a good thing the pieces had varied—some might say freakish—shapes, because colour often gave little clue to placement.
We’ve moved on to a 1500 piece Ravensburger Puzzle of two whales in the ocean. There’s a whole lot of sea green and very uniform piece shapes. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to tell whether a piece really goes there until you’ve determined that if you do put it there something else will fit with it—or not. But this new oceanscape puzzle is still easier than the Tom Thompson by a long shot. (I say that, mind you, having not yet made it to the massive ocean section.)
Why am I telling you this? Because it’s National Puzzle Day, of course. As usual, I’ll put a few pieces in our jigsaw puzzle this evening, but I’ll say I did it to commemorate the day. What will you do? Here are a few suggestions.
rebecca