What I'm Working On: a retro-fantasy Dingle dolphin portal
A story about a loyal Irish dolphin
Last month, I walked a part of The Dingle Way, which is a route circling a peninsula — the Dingle peninsula — in southwest Ireland. It was five days of inn-to-inn walking, through rolling mountains, past muddy farmland, and across misty, isolated beaches. It was intensely enchanted.
On our journey, we learned about the famous Dingle dolphin, Fungie. Fungie and his female partner arrived in the Dingle bay in 1983. His partner’s body was shortly found washed up on a nearby beach. And then — Fungie stuck around. It’s extremely rare for dolphins to choose a solitary life, but Fungie seemed to have found company enough in the residents of Dingle.
One of these residents is Melanie Brosnan. We stayed at her Bed and Breakfast for part of our trip. The entrance to the inn has lots of framed photos of Fungie, where he’s playing with fishermen. When we arrived, we couldn’t believe the images were real. Melanie’s eyes sparkled as she told us about her childhood with Fungie.
She grew up right by Fungie’s bay and she’d swim with him almost every day. He was a main character in her life’s story. And her dad John, a retired fisherman, told us that Fungie saved his life: one day, a French tourist showed up at his door, and asked for directions to go visit Fungie. John decided to just drive him there, and this tourist was overcome with gratitude. He turned out to be a doctor, who recognized that John looked ill. In exchange for John’s hospitality, the doctor ended up bringing him over to his practice in France, and operating life-saving surgery on his heart, for free.
Fungie was isolated from his human friends during COVID, and in October of 2020, he mysteriously left the bay. After two weeks of his absence, the people of Dingle set out to find him. They never have.
When Mel got to this part of the story, we cried. She cried too, but told us it’s ok. Fungie was such a deeply special friend, and she was grateful for all of the time she had with him.
For 37 years, Fungie stayed in Dingle.
And Fungie has stayed on my mind. I found this vintage mirror on eBay, and have been repurposing it.
I want to make it feel like the retro-fantasy art I grew up with. Not as saccharine or blunt as Lisa Frank. Closer to how I remember Windows Screensavers and posters in school classrooms and trapper-keepers.
Here are some of the artists I’ve learned about, as I’ve been working on my color scheme:
First, Christopher Riese Lassen:
Then, Adrian Chesterman:
And finally, Sue Dawe. I love all of her art.
Spending all of this time inside these worlds, and then painting — building the shadow and color of the deep ocean, up to its breaking waves — has felt really good. I was sad coming back from my days walking The Dingle Way, because I missed it so much. Spending time in Dolphin World has been a gentle ramp, back to my daily reality. Here are some process photos, and you can find more over on Instagram. I’ll share the finished mirror once it’s complete.
The story of Fungie reminds me of my story about being Tuna Sad, and the constant choice we’re faced with: to love deeply and completely, despite our inevitable departure, back to the sea.
Lots of love,
Lulu
This made me cry! Beautiful story. Thank you.
This is just terrific. Yes, a book!
Talk with you later today.