A blue-grey roof in the autumn trees

A blue-grey roof in the autumn trees

The pagoda roof and its thin spire sit near the centre of this portrait crop. Their straight lines stand out against the rounded tree canopy. The bright patch of yellow foliage on the right gives you a second landmark away from the building.

This 500-piece cut contains a lot of dark foliage, and several areas share the same greens and browns. The red leaves are useful once you separate the soft foreground shapes near the top and bottom from the sharper leaves on the hillside. Pale gaps between the top leaves help identify that edge of the image.

A way to start

Look for the grey roof slope and the vertical line of the spire. On Hard, rotate a piece against the reference before ruling out a match. Build that roof group first, then look for pieces that continue the sharp line from the roof into the trees.

Sort the yellow leaves into their own group and keep the blurred red leaves apart from the detailed foliage. If two dark pieces look alike, check whether the texture runs into a branch, the roof edge or a lighter patch. Leave the darkest fragments until you have a boundary to work from.