This is the 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Georges Seurat’s (1859-1891) “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” (1884-1886) as it appeared on Christmas morning.
The California cousins put most of the border together while I put the finishing touches on Christmas dinner. Then, sated and happy, they left. Utterly abandoned me with this monster.
Finally finished on the evening of January 3, 2012. The first part I filled in was the lake in the upper right. The last was the green lawn at the bottom center.
I haven’t done this much of a puzzle by myself in ages. Maybe ever. It’s an interesting pursuit, after all. I found myself engaging areas of my brain that don’t typically get an overt workout. Sometimes it’s all about the big picture, how things fit into the whole. Sometimes it’s about giving oneself over to sheer color and shape matching.
Toward the end, it amazed me how I could visualize a missing piece, scan the unplaced pieces, and pick the one I was looking for out of the pile. Or how a random piece suddenly made sense and I could plop it right into place.
It’s interesting, too, to spend time with a famous painting in this way. I’ve seen the original, and it’s wonderful. But I’m not sure I appreciated exactly how many slightly varied patterns in similar colors that Seurat used until I got up close and personal like this.
Anyway….Challenged, with small victories along the way and a goal accomplished is not a bad way to transition from 2011 to 2012!
p.s. This is my 2501st post on Any Given Sundry. I was toying with the idea of quitting at 2500, but then I just had to tell you about this puzzle!
