Swordwhale Walking: illustration, webcomic, stories, photojourneys, videos
  • launch here
    • what I do and how much I charge
    • tales of the Earth Life Foundation
    • American lotus
  • art & stories
    • black horses
    • Sea Ponies of Chincoteague
    • Just Animals
    • playing with water
    • Tradigital illustration
    • environmental education >
      • Christmas Magic Mural 2020
      • animal alphabet and counting murals
      • Assateague ponies
      • the salamander room
      • more touch room ocean
      • more: touch room forest
      • wetland
      • wetland art
      • greenleaf
      • reptile week murals: Nixon Park
    • just animals: photography
    • Tales of the E.L.F. >
      • That Darn Elf, a musing or two
      • cast and crew
      • I dreamed of black horses
      • fanfiction: If Wishes Were Elves...
      • Following Raven
      • The Merrow's Cap >
        • Merrows Cap credits
      • Manannan's Horses
      • fandom >
        • Radagast's Rabbit Ride
        • the Lone Ranger >
          • LOLs and Trolls
          • but wait, there's Moore, and Silverheels
          • Hi Yo Silver
        • black panthers and night furies
        • tales of Middle Earth >
          • Mirthwood
          • Loth-LOL-ien >
            • Im-LOL-dris
            • Smirkwood
            • well, that coulda' been worse
        • Sherlocked
        • catz and doges on fandom
        • Faithful Sidekicks
    • murals
    • scribblings
    • coloring pages
  • mermaid tales
    • Gramma Swordwhale's Mermaid Blog >
      • how to mermaid
      • merfolk on the Chesapeake
      • my life as a mermaid
    • privateers and pumpkins and ponies oh my!
    • stupid gravity (the adventures of a mermaid on Eastern Neck Is.) >
      • stupid gravity credits
    • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass >
      • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass: credits
    • Stupid Gravity: Misty Cloudy Windy Stormy Augh! >
      • Misty Stormy credits
    • Stupid Gravity: the search for mermaids
    • mermaids, Moana and Maui, beached on Christmas Eve
    • horseshoe crabs forever
    • stupid gravity: hot hot hot >
      • hot hot hot credits
  • Chincoteague
    • A Beginner's Guide to the islands
    • back to the islands 2021 >
      • Ponies 2021
    • identify that pony
    • chincoteague pony art
    • Fall Roundup Oct 2019
    • Chincoteague 2019
    • pookas pumpkins and swamp ponies
    • Chincoteague Carousel
    • Chincoteague November 2018
    • the 3rd Sea Voyage of Makenuk's Fin
    • wild horses and kayaks 2017
    • wild ponies in camp
    • North Beach
    • on island time
    • saltwater cowboys
    • Chincoteague
    • Christmas by the Sea
    • island ponies
    • Ace and Unci revolt
    • beached
    • running water in between
    • Assateague Light
    • the Haunted Lagoon
  • crafty stuff
    • customizing riders and other characters
    • Wonder Horse repaint
    • Rich Toy hobby horse rehab
    • photo your toys >
      • how to photograph Breyers in the wild
      • welcome to Hawk Circle: telling stories with model horse photography >
        • more Hawk Circle
        • take your models to the beach
      • Lokigator and Throg's Epic Adventure
      • Sam and Bucky's Excellent Adventure
      • Mando and Grogu
      • paint and wet snow pants
      • Legolas and Hwin, snow
      • derps (or how not to photograph Breyers and others)
      • wild Breyers >
        • printable prints and downloads
        • water horses
        • beach Breyers
        • Lotus Legolas and Arod
        • teeny tiny Breyers
        • backyard Breyers and Schleichs
        • vintage breyers
        • Hartland Horses
        • Black Horses
      • educational display
      • Schleich and Safari Faeries
      • North beached
      • more model horses
      • beach party
      • advenatureData
      • Finding Hank
      • Otterlock and Hedgejawn >
        • Hounded in Baskerville
      • how to photograph your dragon
    • ModPodge rules
    • paint pours
    • flour salt clay
    • chalk paint
    • rock it: paint rocks and use or lose them
    • faerie gardens >
      • more faerie gardens
      • faerie festival at Spoutwood Farm
    • sea this tutu (and make)
    • I found Dory
    • knit me a mermaid, or chicken, or Hei Hei
    • sea treasures
    • sea glass
    • sea horses
    • rehabbing horse epic fail >
      • do you wanna build a snow pony?
      • do you wanna build a sand pony?
      • Barbie horse gets a makeover
    • mermaid saddles
    • Yule Laugh, Yule Cry... >
      • a Brandywine Christmas
    • Uncle Bob's Toys >
      • Uncle Bob's Toys 2016
      • more: Uncle Bob's Crafts
      • the Adventures of Mortimer
  • adventures
    • Go Play Outside
    • Nature Deficit Disorder
    • I heart Nature
    • autumn light
    • cats
    • mushing 101 >
      • dogs on wheels >
        • Autumn Run on Wheels
      • dogsled
      • dogsledding: running on snow! >
        • Groundhog Day
      • kids and dawgs: first sled run
      • Klondike Derby
      • Sled Dogs and Pirate Ships
      • Christmas Day Run: Rail Trail
      • Horses and Huskies: when predator and prey share the trail
      • Schipperke doo dah >
        • Runnin' with the Big Dogs
        • Hobbit Husky
      • women who run with the wolves
      • Play Time
      • wubba wubba
      • New Year's Dog Day
      • Team Swordwhale
    • trains, sleddogs, and horses oh my!
    • butterscotch and sprinkles
    • horses >
      • horse reference for art
      • ponies small but mighty
      • First Horse: Saraf
      • the Wild Black Mare
      • between thunder and lightning
      • Goliath, Nevada Mustang
      • Yataalii
    • Planet Water >
      • Planet fish tank
      • planet toadpool
      • Planet Pond
      • Under the Lake
      • Planet Stream
      • Planet River
      • Planet Marsh
      • Planet Ocean
      • Planet Water Bird >
        • Planet Water Bird: gulls
      • Planet turtle
      • Planet water snake
      • planet amphibian
    • kayak! >
      • blue boat home
      • kayaking 101
      • favorite good boats
      • some kayak videos
      • kayaking Assateague and Chincoteague
      • how to train your dragonfly
      • Chasing Raven
      • the Susquehanna River >
        • the Rock Garden >
          • return to the Rock Garden
        • Conewago Dreamin'
        • the Conejehola Flats
        • Thunderbird Island (petroglyphs on the Susquehanna)
        • to the White Lady and Beyond
      • Calvert Cliffs fossils
      • Sassafras River Lotus Paddle >
        • Return to the Sassafras
        • sassafras river 2015
        • sassafras paddle 20160814
        • Sassafras River 2017
        • Sassafras river 2018
      • Eastern Neck Island >
        • winter marsh, winter beach
        • Eastern Neck Island: under the supermoon
        • more Eastern Neck Island
      • Pinchot Park
      • Lake Marburg >
        • where are the manatees?
        • ...and the dolphins???
        • macros and SAVs
        • Lake Marburg 2018
        • how to be a kayaking Gramma
    • beached
    • dive in! (SCUBA) >
      • Gourd of the Rings
    • mid Atlantic seashells
    • longship company >
      • December sail
      • Sae Hrafn at Oakley
    • pirates and privateers >
      • Sailing 101
      • Schooner Sultana 1768
      • Capt John Smith Shallop
      • Pride of Baltimore II
      • Kalmar Nyckel
      • downrigging 2010 >
        • Chestertown autumn
        • Downrigging Weekend 2014
        • Downrigging 2015
        • Downrigging 2016
        • Downrigging 2017
        • downrigging 2018: pink tardis
        • Downrigging 2019
      • privateer weekend
    • horseshoe crabs and red knots >
      • horseshoe crab spawn 2021
      • slaughter beach
      • horseshoe crabs and semipalmated sandpipers 2019
    • surfboards and watchtowers: Cape Henlopen >
      • beached
      • Watching Whales >
        • Watching Whales...again
    • Seadogs: Newfoundland water trials
    • wind hounds
    • wild things! >
      • baltimore aquarium
      • there's a hummer in the garage...ceiling ...
      • critter cam
      • sky walking
      • leaf-fall
    • The Adventures of the Good Ship Fearaf
    • the incredibly dead blog page
  • art class
    • framing 101
    • watercolor: how to
    • sip n paints
    • acrylic painting 101
    • wildlife art class
    • Santa, You're Doomed
    • (drawing) horses 101 >
      • horse color 101
      • gaits
      • ponies in motion
      • tack
      • Draw: a horse
    • dogs and wolves
    • go ahead, draw a pirate ship
    • anthropomorphism (cartoon animals and stuff)
    • the Little Kids Page of Big Ideas
    • mural: how to >
      • Gabriel's Whale
      • stuff you need
      • drawing (mural)
      • drawing mural 2
      • painting
      • mural jungle
      • mural bat cave
      • mural cats
      • mural ocean
      • mural arctic
      • mural leaf smacking
      • watershed mural
    • crayons and colored pencils
    • palettes
  • wait wait! let me get the camera!
  • who perpetrated all this???
    • swordbroad

for high quality jpgs of images on these pages or to commission original images email me at [email protected]


To the sea, to the sea, the white gulls are crying, the wind is blowing, the white foam is flying, west west away, the round sun is falling... na'aear, na'aear, myl lain nallol, i sul ribiel, a i falf loss reviol, na annun hai, ias annor dannol...
(Sindarin translation: Ryszard Derdinski, www.elvish.org)

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote those words, published in Return of the King, the third book of his epic fantasy Lord of the Rings, published the year I was born. That song (sung by Legolas the Elf of Mirkwood, as he strides out of the tale) has been my going to the sea song for decades. I first discovered Chincoteague Island through some of the many horse books I read as a kid: Marguerite Henry's Album of Horse, and Misty of Chincoteague. When a chapter on Misty and Chincoteague appeared in Henry's Album of Horses, I showed it to my dad. 

"We should go there," he said.

"What? It's a real place?"

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Misty's Place:

Islands of the Wild Ponies



At the edge of the North American continent, land and sea intertwine till you can't tell where one ends and the other begins. Salt marsh and loblolly wood and barrier island, bloodsucking hordes of vampiric mosquitoes and flies, endangered DelMarVa Fox Squirrels and Piping Plovers. Brown Pelicans back from the brink. American Whitetails and Sika from another island halfway around the planet. 

And wild ponies, the most famous of which was Misty of Chincoteague, star of the 1947 kids' book by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by the incomparable Wesley Dennis, who thoroughly understood horses and other animals. Misty and the Beebes were real though much of the action of the tale was fictionalized. The islands are very real, and in some ways, not much changed from the wild rural backwater of the book and its sequels. Oh, now you can drive from Chincoteague to Assateague instead of taking a boat like Paul did in the Misty film. The Assateague Light now wears a coat of bright red and white stripes, no longer the plain brick tower we saw in the 1961 film. There are a few more condos and hotels, but not many. Chincoteague can be navigated safely by bicycle or scootercar. You can rent a neat waterman's cottage for a week, or stay at the Maddox Campground. You can surf, surf fish, walk the beach (except for the part reserved for the nesting Piping Plovers), poke around galleries and shops, immerse yourself in local history at the Oyster and Maritime Museum, visit the giant Viking, and browse the wonderful collection at Paynes Sea Treasures (by Pony Swim Lane). Paynes deserves special mention; a rambling collection of sheds, grown from a hot dog stand, it is like a child's dream of a treasure hunt, the tiny rooms and yard outside holding hidden treasures from the sea; shells, art, mermaids, a llama, a giant chicken, anchors, ponies... the inimitable Capt.Mr. Bob ran it for many years till his untimely passing. It still stands, run by a lovely sea spirit named Star. 

Here you find the only wild horse roundup in the east. On the last Wednesday of July, the ponies make the historic swim across the channel at slack tide (when the water is moving the least). Crowds line the banks, climb trees, stand in chest deep marshwater, float in a line of boats, and a spilled crayon box of bright kayaks. Once upon a time, you would hear the crack of the bullwhips wielded by the saltwater cowboys as they came up through the marsh behind the herd. That is the traditional tool of the east coast herder (as the lariat is the tool of the western herder), it rarely contacted horsehide, a skillful flick was all that was needed to turn a pony in the right direction. It has passed (those who don't understand the art of herding might have speeded its passing). Now you wait in the light chop of the channel, listening to the sound of gulls... then you hear the shouts of the saltwater cowboys, whoops and hollers, and the ears of the ponies appear over the marsh grass. They pour out of the high marsh and into the channel... they know where to go. In 2014, some apparently swam across the channel prematurely, a few weeks ahead of time. On the last Thursday of July, the young ones are auctioned off, the money supports the volunteer fire company. The roundup itself has a long history; colonists put all manner of livestock out on the big island of Assateague, avoiding fencing laws and taxes. they simply rounded up what they needed when they needed it. The pigs and cattle are long gone, the last sheep roundup was over a hundred years ago. Now only the ponies remain. 

They may be what saved the islands. To the north lies the devastation that is Ocean City; T-shirt shops and boardwalks and other alien nonsense lining the sandy shores of a shapeshifting barrier beach. When storms wipe out the human constructions, bulldozers and dredges chug sand back where the humans want it. Nothing else lives there but tourists. Back in the early 60s, developers had their eye on Assateague. They had put in some roads, some street signs. They were ready to turn it into Ocean City South. Then the Nor'easter of '62 hit. The Ash Wednesday Storm of '62. Chincoteague was mostly sunk. Assateague was blasted. The pony herd was devasted, as was wildlife. Chincoteague's Chicken City road saw its last chickens. Misty rode out the storm in the Beebe's house, giving birth not long after the storm abated to a filly named Stormy (descendants have a tradition of weather names). As the islands recovered, ponies were donated back to the herd from families who knew about the place from Marguerite Henry's book. The developers fled, deciding a barrier island might not be the safest place to develop. The Park Service moved in, and now Assateague is a string of State Park, National Seashore and Wildlife Refuge. And Marguerite Henry wrote another book: Stormy; Misty's Foal (I drew Stormy from life back in the 80s, when she lived on the island).

A pony and a kids' book brought attention to an out of the way place. Maybe saved it. Chincoteague still weathers storms: Irene, Sandy... they are a resilient island people, and the big barrier island of Assateague lies like a dragon, its tail curled protectively around the tiny egg shape of Chincoteague. The marshes absorb some of the storms' impact too, the wildlife and the ponies move with wind and tide and storm and return.

Here's a few shots over the bow of my sea kayak Mak-eh-nuk's Fin, from the hold of my vans Fearaf and Thorinduil (serving as bird blinds), from a camera stowed in a backpack, or locked in an underwater housing. 

If you go, you'll want to return too, to live on island time.



click on these pics for more Assateague and Chincoteague
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On Island Time: early adventures and links
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island ponies
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beached
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Saltwater Cowboys & Pony Penning
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Chincoteague Island and town
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running water in between
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Christmas by the Sea
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light at the edge of the world: the Assateague Lighthouse
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