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Puzzle: Mooney Falls, Havasu Canyon, Arizona


Size: 500 pieces
Producer: Kodacolor
Notes: Mooney Falls is named after James Mooney, who died here while attempting to rescue an injured friend by climbing back to the top with his friend tied onto his back.

Mooney Falls is about 1 mile past Havasu Falls, just past the campground. It is a towering and breathtaking waterfall of about 200 ft. in height. There is a really nice view of the falls from the top, looking down on the enticing pool into which the waterfall drops. The fun part (and scary part) of this waterfall, though, … Read more

Puzzle: Maroon Park, Colorado, USA


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: Big Ben, MB Puzzles
Notes: This is a very beautiful park above Aspen. The bell shaped mountains in the background glow a reddish colour in the sunlight & they are reflected on the lake, hence the mountains called Maroon Bells and the lake Maroon Lake. [TravelPod site]

Maroon is a dark red color. Maroon is derived from French marron (“chestnut”). The first recorded use of Maroon as a color name in English was in 1789. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Alabama Hills, California, USA


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: Big Ben, MB Puzzles
Notes: Alabama Hills are a “range of hills” and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California.

Though geographically considered a range of hills, geologically they are a part of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The Alabama Hills were named for CSS Alabama. When news of the Confederate warship’s exploits reached prospectors in California sympathetic to the American Civil War Confederates, they named many … Read more

Puzzle: Chambord Château


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Notes: The royal Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture that blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Italian structures.

The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King François I in part to be near to his mistress the Comtesse de Thoury, Claude Rohan, wife of Julien de Clermont, a member of a very important family of France, whose domaine, the château de Muides, was … Read more

Puzzle: Machu Picchu, Peru


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 86.36 cm x 30.48 cm
Producer: Panorific, Sure-Lox
Box: photo
Notes: Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres  above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as “The Lost City of the Incas”, it is perhaps the most familiar icon of … Read more

Puzzle: Tropical Meditation Garden


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: MB Puzzles, Big Ben
Box: photo
Notes: A tropical garden features tropical plants and requires good rainfall or a decent irrigation or sprinkler system for watering. These gardens typically need fertilizer and heavy mulching.

Tropical gardens are no longer exclusive to tropical areas. Many gardeners in colder climates are adopting the tropical garden design, which is possible through careful choice of plants and flowers. Main features include plants with very large leaves, vegetation that builds in height towards the back of … Read more

Puzzle: Hidden Cottage II by Thomas Kinkade


Size: 300 pieces
Dimensions: 46cm x 36cm
Producer:  Ceaco
Artist: Thomas Kinkade (born January 19, 1958 in Sacramento, California) is an American painter of realistic, bucolic, and idyllic subjects. He is notable for the mass marketing of his work as printed reproductions and other licensed products via The Thomas Kinkade Company. He characterizes himself as “Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light” (a trademarked phrase), and as “America’s most-collected living artist”. Media Arts, the publicly-traded company that licenses and sells Kinkade’s products, claims that 1 in 20 homes in the U.S. feature … Read more

Puzzle: Hour of Prayer by Thomas Kinkade


Size: 300 pieces (oversized)
Dimensions: 46cm x 61cm
Producer:  Ceaco
Artist: Thomas Kinkade
Painting: “The Hour of Prayer anticipates the dawning of a Peaceful Kingdom when time will be no more and prayer will be a direct communion with the divine. Until then, we must content ourselves with such glimpses of immortality as can be found in the Garden of Prayer, which exists in the hearts of the faithful.” [Thomas Kinkade site]

Puzzle: Twilight in the Park by Rod Chase


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox
Artist: Rod Chase, Photorealist
Painting: Twilight in Central Park
Notes: Rod Chase is known to his collectors for producing photo-realism at its finest. The talented artist says, “Being a photorealist, I am dependent on finding accurate reference material for each painting.” Chase works with acrylics on canvas, spending hundreds of hours on each painting with the ultimate goal of presenting a fresh, unique, and elegant approach to familiar subjects. The detail in each painting is remarkable, but the … Read more

Puzzle: The Concert Room, by John O’Brien


Size: 500 pieces
Producer:  Parlor Puzzles, Soft-touch velvet backing
Artist: John O’Brien – John’s artwork conveys a series of mystery and romance seldom found in contemporary art. With exquisite craftsmanship, poetic ideals, and a modern awareness, he created a unique style, which has come to be known as “contemporary romantic realism”. His passion for France, Italy and Ireland can be seen in the romantic settings of elegant interiors, European street scenes, and neighborhood cafes and pubs. [John O’Brien site]

Puzzle: Daughter of the Deep, by Josephine Wall


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 33.02cm x 48.26cm
Producer:  Rose Art, Jewel Scapes series
Artist: Josephine Wall is an English born artist who currently resides in the seaside community of Dorset, England. She specializes in mystical, surreal-like, fantasy paintings. [Bio on Josephine Wall site]

Notes: Mortals hold seashells to their ears to hear the sounds of the seas and imagine life in the deep waters below. Perhaps a mermaid would look into a seashell to see and hear the sights and sounds of the earth above. All of us can embark … Read more

Puzzle: Aristide’s Garden


Size: 500 pieces
Notes: Aristides (530 BC – 468 BC) was an Athenian statesman, nicknamed “the Just”. Herodotus is practically our only trustworthy authority. Aristides is praised by Socrates, in Plato’s dialogue Gorgias 526a-b, as an exceptional instance of good leadership. [Wiki]

It is unknown to which gardens this puzzle is referring. A search reveals Aristide/Aristides/Aristidis  gardens present in Greece, the States, and the United Kingdom. I also do not have a record of the artist who created the picture. A clarification is welcome – if you have any clue as to the location … Read more

Puzzle: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
Producer: Impressions, Sure-Lox
Notes: Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of 412 ha of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over 5 km long east to west, and about half a mile north to south. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the third most visited city park in the United States after Central Park in … Read more

Puzzle: Nostalgic Still Life


Size: 1000 pieces
Producer:  Warren, RoseArt, Prestige Puzzle series
Notes: A still life (plural still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate  subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on). With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greek/Roman art, still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture. Still life paintings, … Read more

Puzzle: Tranquility


Size: 1000 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 68cm x 48.1cm
Producer:  Mega Brands, Click series
Notes: Tranquility is the quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; serenity. The word tranquility appears in numerous texts ranging from the religious writings of Buddhism, where the term passaddhi refers to tranquillity of the body, thoughts and consciousness on the path to enlightenment, to an assortment of policy and planning guidance documents, where interpretation of the word is typically linked to engagement with the natural environment.

Being in a tranquil or “restorative” environment allows individuals to take … Read more

Puzzle: Van Gogh – “Starry Night” photomosaic


Size: 1000 pieces
Producer:  Buffalo Games, Robert Silvers
Artist: Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colors and emotional impact. [Wiki]
Painting: photo. “The Starry Night” depicts the view outside his sanatorium room window at night, although it was painted from memory during the day.  The center part shows the village of Saint-Rémy under a swirling sky, in a view from the asylum towards north. The Alpilles  far to the … Read more