Custom Puzzle Craft - Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle 28

The photograph in this puzzle was shot by internationally recognized photographer, Michael Seewald

Michael writes: "Headed south out of Genoa on a city bus toward Pisa, I spied this scene out of the corner of my eye. A mile down the road I decided it might be a good subject, so I got off the bus and walked back with all my sixty pounds of gear. After finding the right spot and setting up, I notice how empty the upper left of my composition was. I had tried similar compositions before and they all failed from too much negative space. I was about to give up when a tanker emerged from behind the buildings. I waited until it reached the right spot."

For other Michael Seewald prints available as puzzles see: Michael Seewald - Prints

This is a neat puzzle because it has a lot of color line cutting around the buildings. Most of the interior building sections are mini-puzzles which form blocks that fit together to form the overall structure. The edges of the puzzle were cut to form a secure border, although I used my favored style of Indirectly Interlocking Edges, 100%. There is color line cutting around the jetties, and some around the "steps" in the rocks.

There is one figural, best described as a "baby sea monster", comprisied of four pieces, looking up towards the shore from the lower left.

I have been studying the cutting style of Arteno, a puzzle maker from the first half of the 20th century, who used quite a bit of color line cutting - I did adopt some of the "scroll and nip" method for some of the smaller color areas. On a whim I did add a few Arteno style cuts within the puzzle, but the vast majority of the pieces are Swirl Curl.

Significant milestones

First Swirl Curl puzzle with considerably color line cutting.

As it happened (from my Journal archives).

July 4, 2000

I spent a couple good blocks of time on my first puzzle in almost two weeks. I wasn't able to address my "backlog puzzles", so I began work on "Genoa, Italy '89", a Michael Seewald puzzle (first puzzle, third row in the Michael Seewald Art Gallery Wing) - Puzzle #28. There will be considerable color line cutting (clc) - a first with the Swirl Curl style. Clc puts some constraints on the style, so I had to adapt - I introduced some "Arteno" variations, which then seeped into the overall puzzle, but Swirl Curl is the predominate style, and the large sky area enabled me to "dance" a little. I did cut a four piece "sea serpent" figural, it came out looking a little tame. The amount of clc exceeded my initial intention, perhaps as I "became" the picture as I cut, I felt I could push the clc. Puzzle cutting sure puts one "in touch" with a picture. My two recent Swirl Curls had larger pieces than my earlier ones, this puzzle will have pieces in size similar to my earlier Swirl Curls, around 1.8 pieces per square inch vs the more recent 1.5. I expect to finish the puzzle tomorrow and post the picture in the Puzzle Show Room as well as here by the end of the day. [Note: the "Puzzle Show Room" was eventually discontinued in favor of the 100 Puzzles Project]

Name		Genoa, Italy, '89
Date Completed		July 5, 2000
Puzzle #		28
Artist		Michael Seewald
Image Source		Valerie E. Wong Gallery
Size		13 5/8" wide by 10 3/8" high
Cutting Style		Swirl Curl
# Pieces		294
Color Line Cutting		Extensive line cutting around the buildings, some around rocks and jetties
Figurals		Baby Sea Monster (four pieces)
Treat Piece		None (although some of the line cut pieces are nice)