Here is a bit of background information about the series of 10 of my Love+Rock postcards that are being distributed in cafes and McDonald restaurants in Denmark over the next 2 years. It’s go-card in Denmark who is distributing them as free cards. So check your local cafe and McD regularly to collect all 10 of them.
Where did the idea come from ?
In november 2005 I decided to leave Århus for London after having lived in Denmark for 9 years. This decision woke me up quite a bit creatively speaking, and I started drawing, just for fun.
I got inspiration from several places but the basic idea for the postcards came from some particular things:
- a graffiti painting in Århus
- the film Love Actually
- the tag line of the film The Girl In The Cafe (which is very close to my heart):
Love can’t change
what’s wrong in the world.
But it’s a start. - And it is no coincidence that both films are with Bill Nighy, as he is partly to blame for all this too. He normally signs his pictures with Love+Rock, so there you go, I stole that from him. I hope he is OK with that, because I didn’t ask him. And as the cards are a combination of Love (the drawing) + Rock (the quotes on them) this simply was the perfect name for them. If anyone should be in doubt, yes I am a huge fan of this most amazing actor.
- The quotes on the cards: I got ideas for those from listening to music (which I do a lot), and many of the cards are a direct interpretation of a song, places I have visited, films I have seen or people I have met.
So you drew some pictures, what happened next ?
After making quite a lot of them, I got (another) crazy idea. Wouldn’t it be really cool to leave Denmark, leaving behind some kind of Goodbye (and thanks for all the fish) note. After my London decision I have learned that silly ideas sometimes can have great results, so I contacted Go-card. Go-Card is a free postcard service, distributing postcards to all the cafes in Denmark. Most of them are commercial postcards, but they do support artists too, and give them a chance to publish their work for free through these postcards.
Now I am not an artist at all and I can’t really draw either as you can see. But I got blinded by passion and enthusiasm and I sent them some samples of my postcards. Go-card was very enthusiastic and wanted to publish 10 of my card designs over a period of 2 years.
This was so much more than I could ever hope for, and I was quite overwhelmed by their response. For me it is a beautiful way to spread some love actually in the cafes in Denmark, and the symbolic idea of the Girl on the postcards actually ending up in The Cafe, well I am very pleased that this is how it all ended up.
So a big thank you to Go-Card in Denmark for their support.
The first cards have been spotted in Århus already, so if you like them try your local McDonalds, and soon, your local cafe.
If you have more questions, comments or want to contact me you are very welcome to send me a mail.
Enjoy the cards, and love, love, love!
Ingrid
London, March 2006
Love can’t change
what’s wrong in the world.
But it’s a start.