Sky from Untitled

The sky is always the hardest part.

Do you get it out of the way by tackling it first or save it for last?

I tend to avoid it for as long as possible. Or select a puzzle that doesn’t have a sky thereby eliminating the worry. Yet, seemingly inevitably, there is some other feature that takes it’s place. A map of New York left me with a host of blue water; all the same shade of blue because it was a map.

This jigsaw had a small section at the top that I left for last simply because it was furthest away. That’s what I’m telling myself.

I texted this photo just as I was about to start the end. “The sky is always boring”, was the reply. “Not in this case”, I texted back. It’s the lines, you see.

The puzzle is of a drawing, and the mark making used by the artist is now imprinted on my brain. I can see it with my eyes closed. This puzzle threw up so many experiences; there were plenty of options for the concluding mini jigsaw. I settled for this one.

The puzzle

It’s a Pomegranate brand puzzle titled “Edward Gorey”. That’s the name of the artist. The drawing is called “Untitled, 1965”. The blurb provides a hint of how interesting an image it is: “All of his characters inhabit a uniquely enigmatic world, where the lamentable frailties of existence are humorously assuaged by the hopeful delights of fantasy”.

And I picked the sky for the mini!

How boring am I.

Although, I doubt I could do justice to the characters. Perhaps the sky was simply safer.

The series

In this photographic series, called “Mini Jigsaws”, I select a small number of odd pieces from a puzzle just completed and re-assemble them. The aim is to distill something of the experience thrown up by this particular puzzle.

Over time, the way the assemblages are photographed is changing. With “Sky from Unlimited”, this is the first time I’ve included the box and a glimpse of the bigger jigsaw in the final result. However, a more traditional shot is included on Instagram.

You can view other photos from this series on the Mini Jigsaws Project page.

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