Jigsaw puzzles as a source of inspiration

Limited colour pallet inspiration from an unexpected source

Sometimes beautiful colour pallets pop up when you least expect it. Although I should have probably not been so surprised with this particular one.

It was during a cold February school holiday that I decided that it was time to build the 1000 piece puzzle that my daughter received for her birthday the previous year. With it being a thousand pieces we had to wait for the perfect time, as no one enjoys having a half built puzzle floating around the house for months. So I had to pick a time where I knew we would have two consecutive free days to devote to it. Plus there was the benefit of grandma coming for a visit. Nothing motivates the kids to keep on building quite like an enthusiastic grandma.

It is a beautiful multicoloured puzzle with two tigers and a leopard in a forest. As we started to sort the pieces I realised that this is no ordinary jigsaw puzzle - each piece is a little yummy, colourful bit of treasure. My mother-in-law and I started to collect and show each other our favourite pieces and soon it became more about collecting the most beautiful pieces than about building.

Among all the treasures in that box I came upon this one. My favourite of the day. (I am sure that when we build it again I will find a new favourite for that day.)

I grabbed all my coloured pencils and markers and started swatching until I found those colours. Now all that was left was to use them for something.

I like to periodically do a self portrait as a means of reflection and a way to learn to come to love my superficial flaws. At other times it is just a way for me to remember where I was at that point in time. In that case it serves as a reminder to myself that I have in fact moved forward in life. Somehow the older one gets the harder it is to do that.

As the autumn school holiday will start in a few days, I am looking forward to building the rainbow tiger puzzle again. Knowing I can definitely not escape finding some more beautiful pieces hiding in the box. Who knows, maybe this time I will manage to rope my daughter into playing the ‘who can find the prettiest piece’ game with me.

The more I keep a lookout for colour pallet inspiration, the more I realise that it is everywhere. So maybe next time I won’t be as surprised, yet I know I will still be delighted.

Some of you might have realised that I have been on a bit of a ‘building the perfect colour pallet’ tangent lately. Here’s some previous colour pallet related posts for your reading (and watching) pleasure:

• Finding colour pallets in nature

• Basics for building a limited colour pallet

• Building a colour pallet with a colour that I usually avoid