WaterHorse Artistry - Merry Hawkyard

05/09/2026

One for the dreamers and the magic-makers, those with witchy hearts and a love of all things spooky and sparkly... ✨🕷️🕸️✨

Hello friends and wishing you a very happy Saturday! I’m starting the process of sharing with you all the things I should have shared over the last month and didn’t (because August was utterly ridiculous), and the first thing I’d like to do is introduce you to the Dream Weaver!

If you’re a member of my newsletter you might have met her already, and some of you might even remember the odd WIP shot of her from many years ago. I’ve been feeling the pull recently back towards some pieces that for one reason or another never got finished, and this one is one of those. I’m not even sure how long Dream Weaver has been sat in my sketchbook almost-completed-but-not-quite, but I do know it’s been at least four years. She was inspired by a tiny little orb weaver that built her web above my bed in my old room at my parents’ house in England, before I moved here to North Wales. She cosied herself in amongst the many dream catchers that hung from my fairy lights, and that was what gave me her name; her web seemed just like another dream catcher!

Prints are already in my shop (🔗 in the usual place), but the original will also be looking for her special forever home. She is 11” by 14”, illustrated in colour pencils on a background of splashed iridescent watercolours. She’ll be framed before I offer the original in my shop, but if you’re interested please do pop me a message in the meantime (I’m of course happy to make her available unframed if you prefer).

With love & magic,

Merry 🧚‍♀️

13/07/2026

A bit belated but as promised, a more current update on my Carneddau pony artwork 🌙🐴✨

This piece has become suddenly more potent for me over the last two days, as we’ve watched fierce wildfires blaze across our beautiful wild mountainsides and forests here in North Wales - a place that’s usually so lush and green, but right now is as dry as a bone. There’s been a particularly bad one on the Carneddau near Conwy, but last I saw all the ponies are believed to be safe and out of the way, and I believe it’s now under control. Sadly our local woods behind our house have also been burning; nowhere near the same scale, but far too close for comfort. Wildfires can be devastating and I despair to think of the losses in our local wildlife populations. Huge respect to the firefighters who have been out there in these blistering temperatures battling to keep our communities, both human and animal, as safe as possible 🙏🏻

05/07/2026

A lot of my creative energy over the last few months has been invested in writing, my astrological work (namely my Rewilding the Zodiac project, which I don’t think I’ve really talked about here - perhaps I should?) and my new Substack publication (please come find me there if you want to know more, 🔗 in the usual place!), so I really enjoyed picking up a sketchbook again this week… 📒✏️🎨

I’ve been mostly working on this piece that I started a few months ago - inspired by the mountains of Eryri and our very special and unique Carneddau ponies that roam our local area. There’s only about 300 of these semi-feral ponies, and although they share ancestry with the more-familiar Welsh Mountain pony they’re genetically distinct and thus are a breed in their own right, having been isolated in the Carneddau for centuries. Working on this gives me a real sense of connection to the land I’m fortunate enough to live on, and the wild creatures and spirits of place that dwell here 💖

This picture was taken after the iridescent watercolours had dried. Colour pencil work is now underway and I’ll endeavour to post a more up to date version this coming week. In the meantime, I hope you like this one so far; I think it might end up being quite special!

11/06/2026

Well friends, sadly these little bees didn’t find their forever homes at North Wales Paganfest this weekend. But on the flip side, that means they are now up in my site sh🌞p instead!

Just these three available, and I’m sorry to say there won’t be any more quite like this as I can no longer get hold of these sweet little frames. I’m tempted to keep one myself, but I have to remember that’s not what I made them for 😂

I hope one of them calls to you 🥰🐝🐝🐝

Sh🌞p 🔗 in the usual place!

10/06/2026

Now that I’ve had a chance to recover and catch up on a few bits, I wanted to say a mahoosive thank you to Kate, Mel and the rest of the North Wales Paganfest team for another outstanding gathering this year. So much heart and dedication goes into putting on a event of this scale, and I think I speak for many of us there when I say how precious it is to be able to come together with likeminded souls, connect with the spirits of our beautiful and wild land, and escape from the modern world for a few days.

Thank you so much to everyone who visited me at my stall, purchased artwork, booked an astrology reading, and especially came to my talk on the Sunday morning! It was my first time speaking in YEARS, and my first time ever offering up my new Rewilding the Zodiac project as a workshop. So to host such a lovely group of folks and receive such kind compliments on the work I’m doing afterwards was incredibly encouraging and heartwarming.

It was a shorter session than I would have liked, but the success of it has sparked the idea of trialling it as a longer online workshop - so if that sounds like something you might be interested in, please watch this space and sign up to my newsletter so you don’t miss it! Oh, and shameless plug alert: you can also read more about Rewilding the Zodiac on my new Substack, Wild Stars & Wellsprings (🔗 in the usual place!).I

I took a grand total of two not-very-good photos throughout the whole weekend which was a shame, but I think that’s the sign of a wonderful time had, because I didn’t even think about it until afterwards. So instead here’s an old favourite, Midwinter Moon, who received quite a lot of love this weekend. It’s always nice when an older artwork gets some recognition.

Thanks again to everyone who made North Wales Paganfest 2026 so magical. See you same time, same place next year!

💖🧙🏻‍♀️🌿🧚‍♀️✨

01/06/2026

I’m back at North Wales Paganfest this coming weekend 💚🧙🏻‍♀️🌿 And this year I’m doing a talk for the first time (eeek!) about working with animal symbolism in divination, with an astrological twist!
🐏🐂🦋🦀🦁🦊🕊️🦂🐎🐐💃🏼🐟
If you’re at a loose end this weekend, come and join us! ✨

You have met Merry Charis Hawkyard in our marketplace with her lovely artwork, this year she is back with her stall and readings as well as a talk at the fabulous cherry fire circle.

29/05/2026

Yesterday’s work 🐝🐝🐝

Several years ago, I was inspired to create a collection of 15 little bumblebee artworks. The framed bee in the first picture is one of that original batch and lives in my partner’s studio. They seemed to really capture folks’ imaginations, so much so that I ended up making a second collection (which also included some colourful little toadstools), and I always thought at some point I’d do a third batch, maybe more - until I discovered that sadly I could no longer get hold of the lovely little frames I’d chosen for them. And I never found replacements that I liked. So that was that…

Until now. Sort of.

Bees have been on my mind a lot this Spring. They keep coming up for me in divination, and I wrote about pollinators quite a bit in my new article about Gemini animals for my Wild Stars & Wellsprings blog and Substack (🔗’s in the usual place if you fancy reading that - I’m working on a series called Rewilding the Zodiac, about working with animal spirits and symbolism in astrology, which I’ve been sharing about on my Pegasus Astrology - Merry Hawkyard account).

Anyway, all this is to say that bees have been buzzing around my mind. Incessantly. And I guess they needed an outlet!

In perfect synchronicity, I found three left over frames in one of my boxes of art supplies last week, and I decided it was about time they had residents. 🐝

So I give you three new little bees!

I’m hoping to do any finishing touches and frame them this morning, and they’ll be for sale at North Wales Paganfest next weekend 💖🌿

01/05/2026

Wishing you bright blessings of Beltane and a happy Scorpio Full Moon, dear friends. I hope you have a beautiful day, whether you celebrate or not. I think I’ll be decorating my altar, doing a little ritual, perhaps pulling some tarot cards and spending time with the hawthorns and the bluebells before settling in with my sketchbook. What about you? 💜🧚‍♀️🌸🌿✨

🎨: Flower Moon - original sold but prints, cards, canvases and coasters all available 🌝