Wonderlust and Creativity.

Nyhaven at Sunset. It's iconic
coloured houses.

Over the half-term holidays, we took some time out of our crazy schedules to visit one of our favourite places, Copenhagen.

I never thought it would be one of my favourite places on the planet, but that just goes to show you the dangers of presumption. 

Copenhagen has the most amazing skies - there's a quality to the light that seems almost otherworldly; it's both flat and deep - it's full of shades that bring out the light, and this sense is exacerbated by the amount of almost still, clear water ways that surround Copenhagen. 

Everywhere you look in Copenhagen, there is a sense of the aesthetic - and just like the skies, it's an aesthetic full of contradictions. Design is pared back to lines and form in Danish aesthetic, and yet, much of the settings of this austere, reductive design are highly decorative and demonstrate the love that the Danish have for wild nature. 

The Tivoli Hotel. Amazing skies. 

It is this combination of reductionism and luxuriant cosiness that appeals to my spirit so much - it's both spiritually cleansing and comforting. 

From what I have observed, this philosophy extends to many elements of Danish life and identity. There is a clear desire to design a better way of living; a healthier, more comforting way - a move towards a simpler way of living in order that interesting and futuristic things can be achieved. 

Nature heavily influences
design

There's a sense that Copenhagen is a futuristic city, maybe even has leanings towards a literary topic / dystopic state; the uniformity of clothing, the civil order, the sense of quiet law, it's own quirky looking currency - (which seems to have no logical scale of cost and value when it comes to products A fruit smoothie costing nearly £10 / $13 and a Danish design candle-stick costing £8 / $11) but far from being a depressing or worryingly oppressive place, there's a sense that somehow, the Danes have just got it  - whatever it is, right. 

There's an understanding of balance - a huge amount of people cycle, and bicycles litter every available space (mostly left unlocked). The food markets, and independent craft shops, and artistic presence is everywhere. Christiania, a section of the city that is one of the worlds few 'Free States' - where an alternative community and way of living has established itself; one outside of the status quo and the constructs of mediocre Western Society. 

The Water and light create magic

And among the grey, the order, the calm, the ernest nature of citizenship, there is this incredible leaning to whimsy, encapsulated by both the amount of street placed interactive artworks, and the Tivoli Gardens, one of the world's oldest amusement parks in the world, dating to 1890, which is smack bang at the heart of their city. The Tivoli Gardens is a truly magical place - a place that transports everybody into a delightful, childlike imagination - and it's achingly pretty; with fairy lights and flora everywhere, and a steampunk aesthetic established before 'Steampunk' was even a thing. 

The waterways of Copenhagen

We love Copenhagen and can't wait to get back. As a family, it feels more like a playground than a city; from the cheesy, dusty, outdated, but completely loveable tourist attraction museums (Ripley's Believe it Or Not, The World Records, The Hans Christian Anderson experience, The Mysterium - a ghost house) to the food markets, the amazing zoo, the aquarium, the canals, the shops, the cafes, the art, the Tivoli Gardens, the whole city is easy.

I would love to spend an extended stay in Copenhagen - I know that if I were to live there for a year, many, many acts of creative expression would take place. It's a city that sings to my heart.

Eating out has become
a thing in Copenhagen
and warm blankets are
provided. 

Tivoli Gardens making
steampunk epic before
steampunk existed. 

The magic of Tivoli Gardens. 

The Opera House

How Do You Get People To Take You Seriously?

Today, I was asked this question by a fellow creative; not an author but someone who is clearly fighting the same demons that I see being fought in the author community all the time.

You take yourself seriously -
you step out
into the world and you 'be'
who you want to be in the future.
This is me signing in Paris this
 summer.  This didn't
happen by accident. I made
it happen.

We didn't have long; it was a snatched conversation and I literally had a child hanging off my back at the time.

But I hope in that short 3 minute conversation, I instilled these important messages.  So what did I say in response to his question?

• Firstly, before you can ask others to take you and your art seriously, you have to take yourself and your art seriously - you invest in your art; you seek out those who are where you want to be and you observe, study, reach out, learn from them and then emulate them, discovering your own unique 'you' along the way. 

• You have to stop apologising for not being good enough - as a creative, you are constantly evolving, improving (You'll never be 'good enough' but you are as good as you need to be at this point) 




• You invest in your community. You give to the creative tribe, and you give - and then you give some more - and do you know what? It comes back. You build friendships, relationships, mutual respect - I refer to it as 'TRIBE' but you may just as well call it your 'ARMY'. 

You build an army of fellow creatives and you look after your
comrades, you nurture the friendships, and you learn from each other.
You support one another and you trust one another

and most importantly, 

You define yourself as artist and you live
your life as artist. 

• You stop waiting for others to define you as serious (sic, successful, talented, worthy, valid) YOU DEFINE YOURSELF as ARTIST. As CREATIVE. You are entirely free to be who you want to be. As my mentor, Janet Wallace  (Founder of Social Deviants) would say, "Be the future you in the present." Stop waiting for the fabled land and make it here, right now. 

I say these things like they're easy, as if they are a magic potion - and trust me, I know they're not. Unshackling the doubt demons, the fear of ridicule, the little voice that whispers 'you're delusional', 'You're a pipe-dreamer' is hard - and for some it's harder than others. 

We live in a world that prioritises money and celebrity and tries to measure everything within those terms - but the creative life isn't like that, and when you try to fit your art into such measurable quantities, that's when the tension and the doubt, and the fear smacks you in the face. 

There's a sense that unless you're doing everything on some crazy epic scale; you're topping the charts, you're making millions, you're winning awards, you're featured in magazines, on the television, that your name is part of pop-culture rhetoric, then you're a failure - that you're not serious... but that's.... well, it's rubbish! 

Nobody has the right to EVER tell you that your art isn't worthy, isn't valid, isn't 'proper'. Believe in yourself and believe in your art - and hold your head up high and wear your armour well - and if you've been wise enough to follow my advice - you're army will be standing right behind you. 

Have a wonderful Week. Go and make beautiful things, moments, and friendships. 

Kate x

ART AND POETRY ANTHOLOGY: INSPIRATION SPEAKS

Earlier this year on a whim, I followed a tweet by the wonderful twitter friend @jesskristie (author of Dreaming in Darkness). It led me on a magical writer's journey and helped me rediscover my poetry.

The link was to a website called Art Platform; an awesome website where artists sell their work with a hefty percentage going to a charity of their choice. Go check it out, some of the art work is just stunningly beautiful and an attainable investment.

Art Platform and Winter Goose Publishing were establishing a Writers in Residence program with the thoughts of compiling an anthology of the written word and the printed image. The aim was to raise money for the charity Cola-Life.

It was a simple premise. Choose an artwork from the collection which spoke to you the most and then write a poem about it. There were so many to chose from but their was something so essentially raw about the human emotion shown in Saeed Azish's piece called 'Sounds of Us' that it inspired the words to literally flow out of me.

I wrote the poem 'Sounds of Us' in the space of under twenty minutes and even when I had slept on it and ran it past several of my critical friends, it was agreed that it was as it should be.

This is not my usual style; normally it takes at least a month for me to retweek, rework and fiddle with a poem. Even then I tend to set them aside (like a good casserole or wine) to mature. When it was accepted to be part of the publication, the boost to my writing confidence was immense and I want to thank Jess for having such faith in me.

It also taught me that there is a purity in the expression of poetry which sometimes does better for not being over tightened.

You can SUPPORT THESE AMAZING ARTISTS, WRITERS and CHARITY by purchasing the antholgy of work called 'Inspiration Speaks' published by Winter Goose Publishing.

OverView (Taken from The Barnes & Noble website) #

Inspiration Speaks is a perfect coalescence of the beautiful worlds of art and literature by the not-for-profit organization ArtPlatform.org. Step inside these pages where heartfelt emotional writing collides with breathtaking art to produce a captivating world of imagination. A large portion of all profits will be going to benefit ColaLife; dedicated to helping remote communities in need. So open your heart – then open your mind – and allow inspiration to speak to your soul. .

BUY YOUR COPY HERE for $7.99 e-book edition

Published by Winter Goose publishing and edited by Jessica Kristie

SOUND OF US by Saeed Azish is available to purchase for £1,2oo with 50% of the proceeds going to the charity KIDSCOMPANY.

It can be purchased HERE