Photosketcher for fun today. It has been a sunny day, and in my windows the flowers are coming alive! Outdoors it is still too cold, but I am in the mood.
Alone time means time spent by an individual or a couple apart from others. It is often used to ground oneself, or to do something creative.
In the northern countries we are known for this need of alone time – but I strongly believe we all need it. We just have to watch for the signs… even if they are not always easily recognized. You might for example need some time away from other people when you are feeling short-tempered or getting easily irritated by minor things; feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated; having trouble concentrating or getting anxious about spending time with other people.
My own reasons for needing alone time originates from being an only child, and growing up close to the forests and fields – Nature holds all the beauty I need in life, and I have been given the gift to see and to listen, and to rejoice in it. I am very grateful.
Grounding yourself is when you stay connected to the present. Instead of getting lost in anxiety and reviewing a made-up version of reality in your head, grounding allows you to experience the moment you are in. It requires being connected to yourself and provides stability and calm even in challenging situations.
Nature is an unequalled source to pour from – turn off social media, open your windows and let your eyes and mind wander with you on the path you choose. Personally, my favourite path is the one with grass in the middle…just like my childhood paths.
I feel better when I am surrounded, not by humans, but by trees.
― Michael Bassey Johnson
For many of us books and reading fill this alone time well. Reading gives us the possibility to wander into other worlds, while sitting comfortably in our own chair.
For me, photography, writing and sketching works well too, and so does painting.
I know that I need serious alone time to be able to function. For this purpose, I finally realised an old dream – A Room of My Own.
We need solitude, because when we’re alone, we’re free from obligations, we don’t need to put on a show, and we can hear our own thoughts.
― Tamim Ansary
Finding time to be alone can have a number of key benefits. Some of these include personal exploration, creativity and social energy. If you are not used to spend time alone, plan that time into your schedule and make sure that other people know that they shouldn’t interrupt you during that time. It might be helpful too if you plan out what you want to do –
This week in February, every year, I want my husband to travel for some days, so that I can replant my houseplants, alone. I can plan it as I want to, I can emerge myself in facts on the different species…
…and end up with revived plants and cuttings en masse – cheers to new life!
This year I also bought some airplants – they need no soil, just a piece of bark, some Spanish moss, and some sprinkling of water. At the same time I get the joy of creating interesting new arrangements.
New projects are always around the corner, but, I also try hard to just BE. Do nothing. Exist here and now. This is difficult. I wonder – do you manage it? Some good advice would be much appreciated.
Blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse themselves with, something to judge.
~ Paulo Coelho
When I am completely by myself, entirely alone or during the night when I cannot sleep, it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how these ideas come I know not nor can I force them.
~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
A Special thank you to Bren for her soft and magical challenge last week! We learned new things and new experiences make us grow. Now we are looking forward to seeing your Alone Time posts. What are your thoughts, and what do you use your alone time for? Be sure to tag Lens-Artists and link to my original post.
I have been made aware of pingbacks not working, so please, send your link in the comment section! It seems the reason it’s not working might originate in the change to JetPack on my phone.
Next week, Tina will be hosting, and her theme will be – Finding Peace. Please visit her beautiful site for inspiration.
We need softness in the world. When you go to sleep at night, do you lay your head on a brick?
– Adrienne Posey
For this week’s challenge, our guest host, Bren, wants us to show how we soften our images. Bren is a master of this, and now we can learn how it works. ” You don’t have to stick to flowers, landscapes and architecture are also ideal subjects. By lowering the clarity and creating softness in those areas frames the subject in an image, be it a tree, path, bridge, even a door or house or just a dreamy looking image.”
I decided to try some different subjects, starting with a flower and finishing with a seascape.
My first try was a Nasturtium plant close-up –
Then some fluffiness against a rough wall – I guess the bee was collecting building material for his home.
My red camellia is in flower now. I love what the softening did in this image – it made the ”unreal” look of this flower more tempting and strikingly beautiful. The white camellia is in flower as well, but the softness did not work as well as in this one.
The blue colour of the chikory flower is unsurpassed, according to me.
A gallery from my forest walks and Hovdala Castle. Colourful tapestries and soft trees mimicking the clouds.
Golden beech leaves among the larch trees. A picture I was to throw away – until Bren’s challenge saved it for me!
The last tree standing. I made the layers of twigs, grass, forest and sky soft/clear in those sections.
Another gently woven tapestry with field, forest and sky. The colours really appealed to me, and the skies were great that day.
I didn’t believe this technique would work quite that well with a seascape – but I just had to try.
Thank you, Amy, for last week’s wonderful challenge with so many interesting interpretations! And thank you, Bren, for letting us play and learn – I hope you all had as much fun as I had. Now we are looking forward to seeing your responses to this week’s challenge! Please remember to link to Bren’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.
Next week it will be me, Ann-Christine/Leya who is your host. See you then!
For more information on joining the challenge each week, check here.
Temperatures are rising here already, and flowers are coming up. Not any of these though, but I wanted to celebrate with a gallery of flowers in one of my favourite colours. I hope these might put a smile on your face!
It’s never the differences between people that surprise us. It’s the things that, against all odds, we have in common. ― Jodi Picoult
Thank you to Amy of The World is a Book, for hosting this week’s interesting challenge. She asks us to explore, East Meets West or North Meets South. Read her creative post here to inspire your thoughts. Remember to link to her post and add the Lens-Artists tag so we can find you.
I must declare this was a difficult task for me – how to? I hope my solution is OK with you.
Because, I have focused on North meets South, and two very different countries with much in common. Just like we humans, wherever we come from – we have got so many things in common.
I guess you already know from the first images which the two countries are…
Both have got spectacular natural phenomena as volcanoes and hot springs, and ice and snow in beautiful nature.
They have got similar houses too…(!) even if one of them only is from some famous films made here.
So, how do we use their natural resources, the hotsprings? We can bathe in them…
cook in them…
or maybe just love the sight of them as a tourist. For energi they are outstanding and sustainable resources.
Both countries also boast spectacular natural layers of stone.
In one of the two countries, there are no forests – in the other one the jungle lives side by side with the glaciers.
If you follow me, you know how close to my heart these two countries are. They carry the clear light of a natural world less spoilt. One of them is called the land of the long white cloud, while the other one, if you look at the images above, maybe is the land of the short white cloud…
A special thank you to Patti as she made us look at Shadows and Reflections in Monochrome last week. Once again, the interpretations to the challenge were creative, fun and inspiring. This way, we also learned something about what photos work best in monochrome. Next week, we welcome Bren as our guest host. She challenges us with: ”Lowering That Clarity To Bring Softness.” We look forward to more learning next week!
Interested in joining the Lens-Artists Challenges? Click here for more information.
We just got the report from the meteorologic institute – winter is two weeks shorter in our part of the country. Two weeks more without snow. I am not surprised – only sad. I went to my archives…
And, I went back to last February – this tree is from my garden, and…
…these logs in the cold, low sun from my ordinary forest walk.
The two last images are from February 2020. I remember it as a beautiful winter that year.
The snow usually stayed longer then too. This winter not more than two days in a row. In Lapland the reindeer have been suffering from this for several years now. Jumping temperatures makes the snow turn into ice, which means the reindeer cannot reach their food. They cannot break the layer of ice.
This year then? Well, in the header my daughter is walking a lovely forest road. We found it on our way to a friend. We had to drive 50 kilometers north to get that winter feel. I guess that’s what we will do every year now. Winters without snow is unimaginable in our family. I also guess that even if you don’t love snow, you love to see pictures of it!
Leya 
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