Start with the corners snd move on to the edges.

😜

My only advice might be to leave it for some snowy evenings.

I don't usually challenge myself to puzzles that difficult that I know I won't find relaxing - more like taxing ;)

For what its worth, I think I would 1) need more room to begin and 2) sort and group pieces by color as a starting point.

I was expecting news about a new boyfriend.

My advice...don't ask Elliott to help you, lol, although I'm sure he would like to!

Lars that's sweet. I wish. If I do, I'll put a banner along the top! LOL

I use old tupperware containers and separate my pieces out. For this one, definitely separate by color. Get a glass of wine or a can of beer and get busy.

If it were me I wouldn't have even opened the box...but then I am partially colorblind.

I bet it's easier than it looks. I did a smaller, similar one. The one I did was just colors that ran together smoothly, so it was pretty obvious what the adjoining color had to be. You do have colors that repeat in more than one area, but it's really not too scrambled. Separate and pick a place to start.

Are you sure she likes you? 😆

LOL Elizabeth! I like the colors, it's pretty. I think most everyone starts with the straight edges, looks like you have most of that. I'd get a bunch of trays and sort the rest of the pieces into color families. Then ... patience!

I'd get some cookie sheets and then sort the pieces by color onto each sheet so you can work on say a green section or a red section. That way you'll have more room in the middle of the puzzle to empty it. I find it very distracting to have the center full of random pieces. Sometimes, I'll even work a section on the cookie sheet if they go together. Also make use of a spatula or two to help move sections you've put together into the middle of the puzzle in the appropriate place.

Best of luck!!

When I work puzzles, I have to cover them at night. Otherwise, Tony the Tiger will try to 'help' me!

Oh my - that really does look like a challenge!

I always do the edges first to make a frame, then I look for the areas - or colors - that stand out the most, and are the least frequent. It looks like most of the colors aren't repeated, so it may not be as hard as you think. I might start with purple, or maybe the red/orange section in the center, then work separately on each color area until they eventually connect up.

I'd definitely clear out the center area inside the frame - that would make me crazy😄

I use trays and box lids for the pieces, to keep them corralled. I stack the trays and switch between them as I'm working. With that many pieces, I would likely have a couple of layers of pieces in each tray. I think sorting, and using trays makes it more enjoyable. I sort as I go, rather than trying to do it all at once.

I tend to work on puzzles a bit at a time, as I'm passing by, maybe just do a few - which can easily turn into more.

And when I'm done. I dismantle and put the edges together in a separate baggie for next time🙂

P.S. I was looking to buy this one for our program not that long ago - it's really tempting!

Only 500 pc tho...

I like the advice to start at the edges and get that first. I'd look for the green and red next. The rest of the colors will start filling in.

Wow, Annie! Those are some great tips!

Jigsaw puzzles like that drive me mental. 🤣 I need a clearly defined picture to refer to and something that moves a little faster. If I don't feel like I'm making enough progress, I get bored and/or frustrated and have been known to just put - or give - the thing away.

My sister did that recently with one named 'Dawn', given to her by her SIL. She always has a puzzle going and her name happens to be Dawn, so like the perfect gift........or maybe not!. Even working in tandem with her and with a visit from our brother, we made pitiful progress.

Those are some tough puzzles but also some good tips from everyone. I've got the following but haven't worked up the courage to try yet. Perhaps this winter. The bottom third is easy-peasy, but the rest!

spraypaint it black ...

Ohhh, I want the Northern Lights. Of course, if I finished it, my next one would have to be a 24-piece toddler puzzle. I'd be fried.

Also using boxes or cookie sheets means you won't have pieces on top of pieces to search through which is a big no-no when doing puzzles. You need to be able to see the shape and the images of each piece.

When working a puzzle I refer to the parts of the pieces as plugs and sockets. At the end of a puzzle or for a puzzle like this one with all the color groupings, I have sorted the pieces within a color group by shape (1 plug, 3 sockets) (2 plugs and 2 sockets on opposite ends) etc. At times it can be a big help to focus in on just those possibilities.

This puzzle I got from a GF seems so innocuous, but it actually gave me puzzle PTSD and I couldn't work another puzzle for awhile after. I gave it to another GF to try and she quit about 1/4 of the way through as she says it was doing anything but bringing her joy. It was like a pointillist piece in that from a distance the picture makes sense, but each piece was so similar in color up close and they were scattered all across the puzzle, it was almost impossible to distinguish what was what. On top of it, each piece is the same basic shape: 2 plugs and 2 sockets, so even shape wasn't much of a friend. I remember doing the sky first, and when the sky is the first thing you do, you know it's a bear of a puzzle!

Annie, that does look tricky. Here's the one I gave up on, after doing the head and most of the straight edges. 1000 teensy-tiny pieces in a 9"x15" area. What added to my frustration was that often a piece would seem to fit, but it really didn't, and you didn't discover than until after trying to fit in the pieces around it. I still love van Gogh and would consider doing a full-size puzzle where there was a better chance of picking up on visual clues.

Oh yeah, Nickel, I can see the problem. I did another puzzle...one I was never able to complete properly... If you look at the sky in the upper LH corner, you'll see it's not right...but I must've redone that section 15 times and could never get the pieces to fit exactly, so finally I said, close enough. That was another with all the pieces 2 plugs and 2 sockets.

Oh yes - images of expressionist style paintings are just the worst, IMPE!