The Gift of Despair by Corinne Dany Spring 2024

As artists we are always asked ‘where do you get your ideas from’ or ‘what made you make this piece?’

Well, it’s rare that I can recall the exact moment an idea forms in my head. I have a funny example of one, and I have a not so funny one to tell you about.

The funny one involves nudity and a hot shower and a cranky daughter. One evening I was washing my hair, scrubbing and splashing along to my singing (coz the acoustics are brilliant in that room). Anyway, after the rinse and repeat ritual, I blinked my eyes open and low and behold I saw a shape on the shower screen door! It was a sort of seahorse but not quite kind of shape! Well I leant over and with my trusty water pencil, and drew two huge ears on that shape and voila! It became a seahare! I screamed out to my daughter to get my phone, frozen still in case another movement would splash away my sketch. She obliged very unwillingly, eyes firmly shut and arms outstretched! But we got the shot!
My sketch became the piece called The Seahare, which became one of my favourite watercolours in the exhibition I was working on at the time.

Fast forward to July 21st of this year, I returned from a fabulous day at the Bowral Long Lunch where I managed to raise 3k for the wonderful charity Bowral District Children’s Foundation. I was proud as punch as I had never created something that raised that amount before! And I met my beautiful collector who bought the painting, Rebecca from Bowral Fine Jewellery.

I came home on a high only to find my beautiful Shilo Shepherd, Honey, collapsing in the back yard. She was almost 13 and was my constant companion. I called her my shadow and anyone who has a German Shepherd knows what I mean. They follow you when you have food, when you’re ready to go out, when you are happy or sad. Even when you are peeing!!

We lost Honey that night. I lost my shadow and a beautiful soul. I have not been able to shake this one off. We have had beautiful pets in the past but sometimes one stands out and when they leave, it cuts out a massive hole right in the middle of your house…. and heart.

But now that the Bowral Long Lunch event was over it was time for me to create something for The STA Box Gallery. I was in bed for day 2 with a bad cold that overcame me while I was grieving, listening to Nick Cave in conversation with Richard Fidler as my eyes were too puffy to watch any YouTube! While I was listening, I had a clear as day vision splash before me, just like in the shower! The vision was of a sculpture of me wrapped in grief letting go of my beautiful Honey as she was taken away from me by Mother Nature… and it brought me to tears. I second guessed whether I should create this sculpture for the box gallery.. it’s not the happiest of themes.. but the vision stayed with me and drove me to the studio… I wanted to create something that would honour our Honey. Making anything else would feel so trivial.