Explaining the Passion

This begins my first post on my blog about my love for building and framing jigsaw puzzles.  I have loved jigsaw puzzles since my childhood.  Getting a puzzle at Christmas was always a thrill and always a challenge.  I remember never having enough space to build a 500 pc puzzle & I would try find enough room on the small desk in the bedroom I shared with my brother.  I could never spread out the pieces like I do now and I'd be searching through the box for the edge pieces or the right color ones or the right shaped ones.  Eventually I would get it done and I'd drag my parents up to my room and show them my masterpiece.  They were all Milton-Bradley ones back then but each and everyone I received, I loved.  The challenge was always there and it always seemed like a way to focus on nothing else but looking for the right piece, the right shape.  And like now, it was always hard to pull myself away from the table  - "just one more piece" - going like a loop in my mind.  This passion that I have now and this dream that I want to fulfill began in that dark bedroom, searching for that "one more piece", and feeling so proud when I got it done!

But childhood doesn't last forever and before I knew it I was a teenager, a young adult, and then a married man and a new father.  As I grew into my life this passion for puzzles went into hiatus as new interests filled my life and my time was taken up by the demands of work, marriage, and parenting.  As my son became a teenager and as my first marriage began falling apart, I started building puzzles again.  I was probably in my early forties when my joy for puzzles got reignited and it's only become more inflamed as the years have rolled on.  I remember a really lovely 1000 pc puzzle of male lion with his golden mane of hair being the first one that I ever framed.  I that time I glued the puzzle, got a inexpensive IKEA frame to put it in, and then we hung it on the fireplace.  It looked good, but it also looked like a jigsaw puzzle in a cheap frame.  Since that first one, my framing has progressed and I have become more professional since that time.  I also do not glue my puzzles anymore which makes framing a lot more challenging.  I'll explain more on that later in a future post.

When my first marriage ended, shortly afterwards I fell back in love and with her I was able to enjoy a new love and a new life.  She also accepted my passion for puzzles and enjoyed building them with me.  That was ten years ago and during this past decade I have built the majority of my puzzles in my collection.  I probably have close to 200 completed puzzles at this time - from 300 pcs to 3000 pcs, from famous artists to landscapes, from grey wolves and other nature ones to children fantasy and whimsical ones.  From high quality museum ones  (Educa, Ravensburger, Clementoni, Ricordi Editions, Piatnik, Pomegranate, to name a few) to cheaper ones you can pick up at your local drugstore.  I enjoy all kinds but am definitely partial to famous and classic artists - DaVinci, Van Gogh, Monet, Klimnt, Dali, Degas, Renior, and so many others.  When I look at a Ricordi Edition brochure of the puzzles they produce, I want to do them all!

By far my favorite in challenge and art is MC Escher.  I have twelve different MC Escher built in my collection, all produced by Selegiochi.  I also have fifteen unbuilt Escher's by Selegiochi and Pomegrante.  I was fortunate around five years ago to frame three of my Escher puzzles for a friend - (Drawing Hands, Hand with Globe, and Reptiles).  I hope they are still intact and that he continues to enjoy them.  My goal this year is to frame the rest of my Escher's and so many more.

This is my intro.  My first post.  My first time reaching out to people who may share this passion and who may be willing to support me in my dream to frame a hundred of my puzzles for a gallery showing.  This is intro just to get the ball rolling.  Thanks to all who will read this and as I always say - "Enjoy!"