When we visited The Hepworth in Wakefield last year we bought ourselves a jigsaw puzzle in the shop there. The puzzle is of The Salt Path book cover which was designed by the talented artist Angela Harding, I really like her work. At the time I thought it would be not too difficult to put together – as ever I was wrong. After getting the edges completed I sat there for about an hour before getting one piece in! I was quite despondent, but when you do start to put bits together there’s a great sense of satisfaction. I might make this the last puzzle of the winter though!
Tag Archives: jigsaw
Neuschwanstein Schloss, Germany – a jigsaw puzzle
Our second jigsaw puzzle (and possibly the last) of the year is of Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. It’s a place that I almost visited because back in 1970 I was in Bavaria staying with a penpal, and we were supposed to be visiting the castle, but I was so homesick and was not having a good time so I decided to go home a week early. I’ve always wondered if I made a mistake doing that – so when the saleswoman in the shop we bought this puzzle in told us that she had visited the place with her parents in the 1970s when she was a child, and her father was furious when they got to the castle I realised I hadn’t missed much. Apparently it’s a long hard walk up to the castle and when you get there it is completely empty! The original owner spent all his money building the place and couldn’t afford any furniture. I wonder if it has been furnished now. This is supposed to be the most photographed and prettiest castle in the world but to me it looks like a barrack with a few pepperpot turrets stuck on it.
Anyway, this autumnal view of the castle almost did me in, the building was easy, the trees not too bad but the sky was a nightmare, after a few day’s rest we tackled it again and got there.
We still have a queue of four or five other puzzles to do but I might leave them for next winter!
Jigsaw puzzle update
It took us about a week to finish the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the Eric Ravilious painting of The Westbury White Horse which is in Wiltshire, England.
It wasn’t as difficult as we feared it might be, it was really enjoyable, but we’ll leave it a few weeks before beginning another one I think!
First jigsaw – The Westbury White Horse
It’s that season again – jigsaw time. It’s of The Westbury White Horse, which is in Wiltshire. The painting is by Eric Ravilious and the jigsaw puzzle has 1,000 pieces. So far it hasn’t been too frustrating, but all of those green bits might get me down. I love the wee steam train chuffing away on the left hand side.
During World War 2 the artist Eric Ravilious was a war artist. Sadly he died on active service in 1942 when the aeroplane he was in disappeared over Iceland. I really like his style of painting.
Rington’s Through The Years – a jigsaw puzzle
I was very lucky this Christmas in that I received a new jigsaw puzzle from a friend from the north-east of England where the company Rington’s is something of an institution, they market tea, coffee, biscuits, delicious teacakes and all sorts of tea/coffee related goods. The puzzle design consists of a collage of their wares over the many years they’ve been selling them, including commemorative caddies and teapots. Lots of them feature royalty so the Queen is here from 1953 youngster to just about the present day I think.
This is a difficult puzzle! I was so bored during our very quiet no guests Christmas Day that I was glad to break open the seal and begin it, there was absolutely nothing worth watching on TV on the many channels that we have, mind you we don’t have Netflix, that might have helped but I don’t really want it – I think. Progress so far has been fairly slow but it’s not driving me around the bend – yet.
Jigsaw puzzle – London
The lastest 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle that we’ve completed in these strange pandemic times is one of London which I really enjoyed doing.
There’s a lot of reflection here but you can probably see that it’s the Thames, embankment and the Houses of Parliament and St Stephen’s Tower. Now we’re doing the New York puzzle, so far so good but we’re just completing the edges. I may have to resort to the internet for more puzzles as this one is the last one we have to complete. When I bought them I thought they would do nicely to pass the time on cold and dreary winter days, but obviously then I had no idea we would all be in lockdown and stuck at home. I’m so glad I bought them as there’s only so much reading and TV watching that you can do in any one day.
Laurel and Hardy – Me and My Pal
I read that Kate Atkinson book When Will There Be Good News a while ago and there never was good news in that book – so depressing, and the whole world seems to be stuck in a horrible no good news cycle at the moment too.
Anyway, if like me, you are in need of something to cheer you up a bit, you might like to have a look at this Laurel and Hardy film. It was always one of my favourites, and this time of the year (Christmas) is usually jigsaw season for us, so it seemed appropriate.