This puzzle is another cool densely cut Swirl Curl puzzle. I went pretty wild with "eggs" in this puzzle, cutting 19 of them.

As it happened (from my Journal archives)

July 31, 2002

8:25 pm - Work was considerably interrupted this afternoon as I went to a hospital to visit an artist from the Mixed Media collective (where I have my puzzle shop) who is suffering from kidney stones and infection. The artist should be OK.

I cut about a third of Tuscany Landscape. The paper the Tuscany 2002 Calendar prints are printed on is borderline, being fairly puzzlely. I felt the first two 2002 Calendar puzzles I did came out OK, with the first being enhanced by a very good photo and a Creative cut with some pretty spectacular pieces, and the second by a particularly good Swirl Curl cut and an image that may have masked some of the puzzlely look. The paper "look" is much more evident when there are a lot of dark areas, as there is in Tuscany Landscape. Also, the Tuscany Landscape picture is not "busy" which makes the cutting more prominent. In the sky, which is brighter, the situation is not as noticeable. I plan to finish the puzzle, and then when I assemble it, I will make a decision as to whether or not I want it to be a 100 Puzzles Project puzzle. I'm not happy at all about the paper problems associated with some Gallery Puzzles. Sometimes I'm tempted to go to 100% computer printed and "photo-printed" works. When I'm in NYC I'm going to be almost exclusively focused on looking for new lithograph sources, as I'm feeling increasingly constrained and frustrated with regards to Gallery Puzzles, and running out of material for the 100 Puzzles Project.

I decided to have some fun with eggs, and cut a dense patch of four eggs in one area. Won't be this puzzle, but it would be fun to do an "Experimental Puzzle" (haven't done one for such a long time!), with "200" eggs or something - would be interesting to see if the puzzle is harder to solve.

August 1, 2002

10:34 pm - This afternoon I put in about four hours of continued cutting on Tuscany Landscape. I was a bit harsh on myself yesterday, as before starting cutting today, when I looked at what I had cut so far I thought it looked good, and now looks even better as I'm now close to about half way done. I'm back on track to having this puzzle be the September auction puzzle.

August 2, 2002

11:30 pm - Finished Tuscany Landscape, 400+ pieces, Swirl Curl, 19 eggs, many hours of cutting today. A person remarked that it was hard to understand the image (puzzle cutting too prominent). Despite this, the puzzle will be at NYC and will be the Sept auction puzzle, with the auction conducted via clipboard at the show. I may accept "email bids" (one bid only per interested party) ahead of time, via my standard announcement email, for those who may be interested in the puzzle but won't be attending the NYC show.