The Pet Vet

I wasn’t aware of this artist before, but a quick look online and there’s lots of puzzles with her paintings. Very similar to Charles Wysocki- scenery with big houses, lots of little details, rural and early Americana as far as I can tell. I liked this one because of all the animals. It was a new, sealed in the box thrift store find. The downside to it being so spanking new: hurt my fingers a lot. I had to wear glove tips. Even when sorting, and disassembling at the end. Very shiny too, which was a bit distracting. But decent piece shape variety, and more of a challenge than I expected! I started by choosing all the blue of sky and trees in bloom- but the abstract randomness of the blossoms really stumped me. So just did the plain sky first, then set all the flower pieces aside for the end.

The assortment of pets is fun- there’s the usual cats and dogs, a bird in a cage, and animals you’d expect in a farming community- horse, pig, sheep, donkey. Then there’s this one, I think it’s supposed to be a calf- but the head doesn’t seem quite right (too long) and the horns are tall and straight upright, like a goat. Maybe it’s a goat with a black-and-white piebald coat? Just funny.

Then there’s a girl with a pet skunk!

And I like this one just because it reminds me of a stray dog that showed up in our neighborhood when I was a kid. We kept it in the yard for about a week, found it a new home. Nicest dog ever. (It wasn’t quite as large to me as compared to the kid in this picture).

Final puzzle size: 24 x 18″.