Those of you who are on Facebook with me know that I love doing jigsaw puzzles. I finished this one last night, and the following is what I posted on Facebook about it.

This is a folk-art painting of the Caribbean island of St. Maarten (Dutch side). I have wanted this puzzle ever since I became aware of its existence a couple of years ago, but it has been out of print. During Dowdle’s recent Puzzle Day sale, I was thrilled to learn it was back in stock. I travel to Sint Maarten a couple of times a year for several weeks each, and it was great fun piecing together landmarks I know so well: the cruise port; Great Bay Beach; the Sea Palace; the courthouse; the Catholic church; Hard Rock Café; the obligatory Diamonds International, ever present in most Caribbean cruise ports; the short runway off in the distance; the Sonesta Maho; Divi, where I have my timeshare; the Fort. Even though this is not a geographically correct rendering, it was just plain fun. It would be great if there were a similar puzzle of the French side, but I am not holding my breath for that.

The only thing I didn’t like about this puzzle was the backing on the pieces, which was a very soft gray that shed like crazy. I had to use my handy miniature vacuum constantly during puzzle assembly to suck up the shedding. All my other Dowdles have gray backing, but it isn’t the soft, shedding type. I hope this is a one-off.

After graduating from high school, Eric Dowdle was introduced to the art of Charles Wysocki, and he began gravitating to Folk Art, which Wikipedia says “reflects the cultural life of a community and encompasses the expressive culture associated with the fields of folklore and cultural heritage.” He started Dowdle Folk Art in the 1990s and in 1997 had some of his original paintings made into puzzles. The rest is marketing history as his company has sold more than ten million puzzles.

“St. Maarten” by Eric Dowdle
Dowdle Puzzles Dowdle LINK
500 pieces