Home Posts tagged "puzzle" (Page 25)

Tag: puzzle

Puzzle: Fresh Bouquet


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 58cm x 74cm
Producer: American Publishing, LJN Toys
Notes: A flower bouquet is a collection of flowers in a creative arrangement. There are different kinds including nosegay, crescent, and cascading bouquets. Even before flower bouquets were used by brides in wedding they were used in a different form of art. They appeared as early as the 17th century and possibly earlier. Flower bouquets were captured in paintings and on pottery as decorations.

The art of arranging flowers was first documented in the 17th century, when the Dutch, in particular, painted wonderful informal arrangements of flowers. In the 18th century, arrangements were used to decorate the houses of the wealthy families and the aristocracy.

In years past, as a matter of tradition, an upper class bride was required to hold a bouquet of roses or flowers as she walked down the aisle to prevent body odor from spreading and to drive away evil spirits. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Architecture, Puri, India by Jim Zuckerman


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Painting: photo
Artist: Jim Zuckerman left his medical studies in 1970 to pursue his love of photography and turn it into a career. He has taught creative photography at many universities and private schools… The work of Jim Zuckerman has been used for packaging, advertising and editorial layouts in more than forty countries. He has been published in calendars, posters, greeting cards and corporate brochures and annual reports, and his work is also sold as fine art prints in scores of furniture store outlets across the United States. [Jim Zuckerman site]

Notes: Puri is a city situated about 60 kilometres south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Odisha. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple (built in the late eleventh century). It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages. It is considered that a pilgrimage of the temples of India is not complete without making the journey to Puri. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Catherine Palace, Pushkin, Russia


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: MB Puzzles, Big Ben
Notes: The Catherine Palace (Russian: Екатерининский дворец) was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.

The residence originated in 1717, when Catherine I of Russia engaged the German architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein to construct a summer palace for her pleasure. In 1733, Empress Anna commissioned Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Kvasov to expand the Catherine Palace. Empress Elizabeth, however, found her mother’s residence outdated and incommodious and in May 1752 asked her court architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to demolish the old structure and replace it with a much grander edifice in a flamboyant Rococo  style. Construction lasted for four years and on 30 July 1756 the architect presented the brand-new 325-meter-long palace to the Empress, her dazed courtiers and stupefied foreign ambassadors. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Le passage by Vadik Suljakov

Le passage, med
Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.70cm x 39.37cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Painting: photo
Notes: Since arriving in the United States over a decade ago, master Russian artist Vadik Suljakov (pronounced Shul-ya-kov) has established himself as one of the most distinguished young impressionists in the country. Suljakov, born in the cultural center of Moscow in 1960, comes from an intellectual family with many generations of artists and writers. [Monsoon Gallery]

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Puzzle: Tuscany, Italy


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 39cm x 60cm
Producer: Impressions, Sure-lox
Notes: Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes  or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material. Mead is a wine that is made with honey being the primary ingredient after water.

Winemaking can be divided into two general categories: still wine production (without carbonation) and sparkling wine production (with carbonation).

The science of wine and winemaking is known as oenology (in American English, enology) and the oldest known winemaking operation, estimated to be 6,100 years old, was discovered in a cave in Armenia. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Garden Bluebird


Size: 300 pieces (oversized)
Dimensions: 38cm x 54cm
Producer: Buffalo Games
Artist: Joe Hautman
Notes: The bluebirds are a group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Sialia of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. They have blue, or blue and red, plumage. Female birds are less brightly colored than males, although color patterns are similar and there is no noticeable difference in size between sexes.

Bluebirds are territorial, prefer open grassland with scattered trees and are cavity nesters (similar to many species of woodpecker). Bluebirds can typically produce between two and four broods during the spring and summer (March through August in the Northeastern United States). Males identify potential nest sites and try to attract prospective female mates to those nesting sites with special behaviors that include singing and flapping wings, and then placing some material in a nesting box or cavity. If the female accepts the male and the nesting site, she alone builds the nest and incubates the eggs. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Bremen, Germany


Size: 500 pieces, 3 missing
Dimensions: 35cm x 48cm
Producer: Canada Games, Windsor
Location: The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area (2.4 million people). Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.

Bremen is connected with a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the Town Musicians of Bremen, although they never actually reach Bremen in the tale. [Wiki]

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, is getting to its base. From the top of the falls, the trail continues down to a warning sign, indicating to proceed at your own risk, and not to try descending in inclement weather. From here, you have to squeeze through two narrow tunnels built into the cliff. When you emerge from the tunnels, you are looking straight down the cliff to the pool at the base of the falls, and wondering if you are crazy enough to proceed. It is a steep descent. [Waterfalls of Arizona]

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

Alabama Hills, California, USA, med
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 mining claims after the ship, and then the name came to be applied to the entire range. [Wiki]

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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 adjacent. Her arms figure in the carved decor of the château. [Wiki]

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 the Inca World.

The Incas started building the “estate” around AD 1400 but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. [Wiki]

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 the garden, creating a dense garden. Large plants and small trees hang over the garden, leaving sunlight to hit the ground directly. [Wiki]

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 some form of Thomas Kinkade’s art.

Kinkade has received criticism for the extent to which he has commercialized his art—for example, selling his prints on the QVC home shopping network. Others have written that his paintings are merely kitsch, without substance, and have described them as chocolate box art. [Wiki]

Painting: “I take a great deal of pleasure in finding out-of-the-way places, small wonders that sometimes seem to go unnoticed like the cottage behind the gate in Hidden Cottage II.” [Thomas Kinkade site]

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 mood each is equally impressive. [Rod Chase site]

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 on a magical voyage through the universe using our imaginations to carry us along. [Josephine Wall UK site]

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 of these gardens and the author of the picture, I would much appreciate that information.