Denmark's short, dark winter days and long summer nights seem a world away from the blazing sun and blue skies of Canberra, but both landscapes inspire Lisa Cahill's artwork, and it's little wonder why.
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The glass artist grew up in Canberra, but visited her Danish mother's homeland almost every year and the visits had a lasting effect on her.
So much so that at 18, fresh out of high school, she moved to the Nordic nation and stayed there for years before returning to Australia to study art.
At Monash University in Melbourne, she met Melbourne-based glass artist Holly Grace, who also had an interest in Danish design.
And now, fittingly, the pair are making their debut on the European art scene with a joint show at Denmark's prestigious Museum of Glass in Ebeltoft.
Cahill cannot hide her excitement, speaking over the phone from a friend's house in the small town of Ebeltoft, where she is preparing for the exhibition's opening on January 15.
"If I was going to exhibit in Europe, it's the best option. It's kind of my dream, especially coming from Denmark. I still can't believe we've got this show," she says.
After the Danish show closes in April, the two artists will bring the exhibition, Light Translations, to the Canberra Glassworks in July, along with new pieces from Cahill inspired by her most recent visit to Denmark.
The vastly different landscapes of Australia and Denmark, and particularly the light, influence both artists' work in the show.
For Cahill, it translates into eight blue-toned kiln-formed and carved wall works and sculptural forms referencing the movement of water and air, while Grace's nine pieces are made from kiln-formed panels and blown glass transformed into a "glass canvas of sand-blasted imagery and cold-worked surfaces".
"They're meant to feel like they're crumbled paper and a gust of wind has blown them off the wall," Cahill says of her works.
"The blue, for me, is very much like the ocean of Australia, but also Denmark and Scandinavian design is very soft and gentle, so the lighter blues are the Danish colours."
In contrast with the intense blues of Australia's "amazing" sky, Denmark is typically more overcast and cloudy, Cahill says.
But she feels strong connections between the two countries, despite the vast distance between them, and finds herself pining for both landscapes and thinking of the other whenever she is away.
"I feel like wherever I am, it's a longing," she says.
"I'm always thinking of what's not there, what's far away, and longing to be back in those places."
"I always think of Australia as being surrounded by water, so it's almost like we could get on a boat and sail to Denmark.
"They're very far away, but for me they've always been almost next to each other."
As well as the obvious connections with her Danish relatives, including her mother, who lives in Nyborg on the island of Funen, Cahill says she also has "adopted family" in the country from her time working as a nanny.
She has vivid memories of previous visits, including spending a cold Christmas in the country when she was 12.
"It was snowing and it was minus-20 degrees and it just left such an impression on me, because we'd be walking around in snow boots a foot deep of snow, and I'd never seen that growing up in Australia," she says. "It was so foreign."
The experience was so memorable, Cahill jumped at the chance to repeat it with her three-year-old daughter, Amelie, when she learnt the exhibition was opening in Denmark's winter.
She hopes revisiting a Danish winter will inform new pieces ahead of the Canberra exhibition.
Cahill fell in love with glass after going to the Canberra School of Art initially to study jewellery making or painting.
"I walked past the glass department and I was mesmerised, because I didn't even think of it as something you could make art with," she says.
"To me, glass had always been about design, beautiful carafes, vases and that sort of thing ... but it's the kind of medium that's just so versatile."
Since graduating from art school, she has poured everything into her art and tried to use every technique possible.
"I pretty much lived on no money, and every penny I had went into either buying equipment or materials, and just making work and exhibiting it and sending it around," she says.
"I thought, 'if I'm going to do this, I'm going to give it my all to begin with and see if it works, and if it doesn't work, I'll do something else', but I'm still here 15 years later, which is great."
After time spent in Melbourne and Sydney, Cahill viewed Canberra with fresh eyes when she returned in 2011.
"I'd kind of forgotten about the [Canberra] landscape and how simple and quiet and beautiful it is," she says.
"Driving around Lake George and seeing how everything was so dry, that really surprised and shocked me. I remembered Lake George as being really green and lush."
Cahill shares a studio at Pialligo with fellow glass artist Kirstie Rea, but is also a regular at the Canberra Glassworks, where she works part-time teaching, hosting tours and in the shop.
She marvels at the scenery on the drive from her home in Narrabundah to the studio.
"You can see these mountains and countryside, and I feel like I'm in the middle of the country; it's really bizarre," she says.
Light Translations is on at the Canberra Glassworks from July 7 to September 11.
