Nostr notes by John Altringham

Thanks for these Cascade hikes, Eugene, they are very much ...

2026-06-25T08:02:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…59w2
_________________________

Thanks for these Cascade hikes, Eugene, they are very much appreciated. It's great to see the plants in context and be reminded of the riches of the PNW. Each hike is a memory jog, triggering recollections from our own hikes in those beautiful mountains.

Watercolour sketches started yesterday and finished this morning. ...

2026-06-16T10:44:59Z

Watercolour sketches started yesterday and finished this morning. Changing light over the Sound of Sleat from Isleornsay, Skye.

#watercolour #landscape #mountains #Scotland #art

In the garden in June: wood mouse, zebra jumping spider, young ...

2026-06-10T08:43:12Z

In the garden in June: wood mouse, zebra jumping spider, young robin and azure damselfly.

First attempt at printing a wood engraving with two colours ...

2026-05-15T15:53:38Z

First attempt at printing a wood engraving with two colours grading into each other on the block, using two rollers, wet on wet. Far from perfect execution, but effective nevertheless.
Dunstanburgh Castle, 100x100mm.

A short walk around some of Ilkley Moor's Bronze Age carved ...

2026-05-12T20:01:20Z

A short walk around some of Ilkley Moor's Bronze Age carved stones and other monuments. Map, GPS track, description and photos.

Plus four extra photos: 12 Apostles Circle, Badger Stone, Pepperpot and Barmishaw Stone.

https://www.outdooractive.com/en/route/hiking-trail/north-east-england/a-walk-round-some-of-ilkley-moor-s-bronze-age-carved-stones/260751287/

I have just replaced my dilapidated old website with a shiny new ...

2026-05-08T14:37:33Z

I have just replaced my dilapidated old website with a shiny new one. If you like wood engraving prints it may be worth a visit. I’d be very grateful for boosts, a small increase in traffic on the site might persuade me that my time was well spent! I will now go back to paint and ink.

https://www.johnaltringham.co.uk

#art #WoodEngraving #prints #mountains #landscape #nature #Scotland #Yorkshire

A walk across the broad top of Ilkley Moor this morning, under a ...

2026-05-01T13:57:29Z

A walk across the broad top of Ilkley Moor this morning, under a hot sun. Green hairstreak butterflies everywhere, in intense aerial combat.

The next wood engraving will be another piece of mediaeval ...

2026-03-12T14:08:31Z

The next wood engraving will be another piece of mediaeval architecture but it will be some time in the making. It's not this:

Kilpeck, Herefordshire. Early 12C church, remarkably well preserved.

Slioch (The Spear) overlooks Loch Maree and its islands. View ...

2026-02-23T11:56:50Z

Slioch (The Spear) overlooks Loch Maree and its islands. View from the NW on the high point of the track from Poolewe to Slattadale. NW Scotland.

First test print of a wood engraving on a 100x65mm lemonwood block. There is probably not a single 1cm square that doesn't need further work but all will be small refinements. If in doubt, engrave in small increments, you can't reverse a cut!

Watercolour. Ilkley Moor as overnight mist disperses on a morning ...

2026-02-05T16:02:01Z

Watercolour. Ilkley Moor as overnight mist disperses on a morning in late summer. Sketched today as the wind whistles at the window and rain hides the moor.

A very accessible essay on use and misuse of AI by Cory Doctorow ...

2026-01-19T12:18:18Z

A very accessible essay on use and misuse of AI by Cory Doctorow Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/18/tech-ai-bubble-burst-reverse-centaur

Since the last post was received with such enthusiasm, here's ...

2026-01-11T16:11:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…2wxz
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Since the last post was received with such enthusiasm, here's some understated standing stones of uncertain history a short walk from home. A tiny 46x36mm wood engraving.

#StandingStoneSunday

Wood engraving print, 75x75mm. The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney. ...

2026-01-11T12:47:46Z

Wood engraving print, 75x75mm. The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney.

#StandingStoneSunday #printmaking #art #prehistory

Wood engraving, near finished, on 10x10cm block of lemonwood. The ...

2026-01-02T12:21:51Z

Wood engraving, near finished, on 10x10cm block of lemonwood.

The columnar basalt cliffs of Rubha Hunish at the northern tip of Skye. A steep path, with a little scrambling at the top, leads down from the break in the cliffs onto a cliff-rimmed peninsula. Two tiny figures on the path give a sense of scale.

Next, a test print...

Work in progress, my first wood engraving for several months. ...

2025-12-18T23:09:41Z

Work in progress, my first wood engraving for several months. Enjoying the calm it brings. 10x10 cm lemonwood.

Looking back up the cliff path at Rubha Hunish, Trotternish, Skye. Down to the almost hidden peninsula and the birds, the Shiants, the Outers and the panoramic mainland mountains.

Watercolour on Two Rivers handmade paper, the thick stuff. 79x56 ...

2025-11-20T19:19:27Z

Watercolour on Two Rivers handmade paper, the thick stuff. 79x56 cm.

Metamorphic rocks of Faraid Head, Sutherland, NW Scotland. Moine ...

2025-10-30T12:05:13Z

Metamorphic rocks of Faraid Head, Sutherland, NW Scotland. Moine Thrust Zone Mylonites Complex.
A visual invitation to dive below the thin veneer of sand and follow the geology into the crust.
Photo, watercolour and a monochrome photo - an engraving?

Not the best of times. However, today I became an elected member ...

2025-09-30T16:27:57Z

Not the best of times. However, today I became an elected member of the Society of Wood Engravers. This has raised a smile and reminded me that I have only 10 days in which to submit my entries for the 2026 annual travelling exhibition. Pictured, engravings the SWE selected for the 2023, 4 & 5 exhibitions and a probable entry for 2026.

https://johnaltringham.co.uk

Thanks, Eugene, great to see this wonderful walk again. In 1983 I ...

2025-09-18T07:53:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…kqu4
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Thanks, Eugene, great to see this wonderful walk again. In 1983 I hiked to Sahale Arm and on up to Sahale Peak on a glorious spring day. I met just one person, a park ranger at Cascade Pass. It was earlier in the year with lots of snow high up (and probably midweek too) but nevertheless I guess there are far more hikers and climbers these days. Highlights the importance of the national park service and others in balancing access with protection.

Watercolour sketch, 15x7.5 cm ...

2025-09-16T14:45:08Z

Watercolour sketch, 15x7.5 cm

Wildflower-rich sand dunes and coastal grasslands on the NW coast ...

2025-09-16T10:06:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…s8gs
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Wildflower-rich sand dunes and coastal grasslands on the NW coast of Scotland (and NW Ireland).

Machair and morning mist, again. Watercolour, 25x15cm. ...

2025-09-16T09:16:20Z

Machair and morning mist, again. Watercolour, 25x15cm.

I've tried many times to capture the atmosphere of a ...

2025-09-07T09:23:50Z

I've tried many times to capture the atmosphere of a Hebridean shore under a grey sky, before the morning mist has cleared. Somehow the beach and the machair still glow and the sea somehow still looks tropical. Yesterday I think I just about cracked it.

Nostr event nevent1qqsd7m9d74n03fa3fkh5ccanvmdyx36l8jk3pkv4r3c3qzgzeccw3ugzypv5lusm0jzrt0l5xz58f3td0klhh4zfq0tmp8cu9qmq02hxt0esj8gy3mf

2025-09-03T12:45:03Z

Wood engraving in progress - sparrowhawk. A glass of malt whisky ...

2025-08-14T20:50:24Z

Wood engraving in progress - sparrowhawk. A glass of malt whisky fuels the work.

Mid-morning walk on Ilkley Moor, heather in full bloom. ...

2025-08-11T13:55:48Z

Mid-morning walk on Ilkley Moor, heather in full bloom.

First test print of a wood engraving of a singing wren on a tree ...

2025-07-17T17:12:52Z

First test print of a wood engraving of a singing wren on a tree stump. Above it is a sonogram of part of its song.
The scientist in me wants to put frequency and time labels on the axes but I think I should resist.
Do I give the wren a woodland background or make it a clean, solid black?

Screaming swifts - from the bedroom window, now. ...

2025-07-11T20:52:21Z

Screaming swifts - from the bedroom window, now.

Rough bark, smooth curves. ...

2025-07-02T21:37:19Z

Rough bark, smooth curves.

I am posting the watercolour sketch 'Swift' again, ...

2025-06-26T18:32:57Z

I am posting the watercolour sketch 'Swift' again, together with a fine poem by [@Daniel_Hoffmann](https://mathstodon.xyz/@Daniel_Hoffmann )

My sketches only rarely inspire poetry!

Aspect

There, the little cross
marks the point
where life burns
wildly screaming
into the boiling grey sky,
high, high above
slowly eroding geometry.

Swift (plan A wasn't working) ...

2025-06-26T11:07:27Z

Swift

(plan A wasn't working)

Stonechat. Finished wood engraving, first test print, which ...

2025-06-24T18:53:54Z

Stonechat. Finished wood engraving, first test print, which I'm very pleased with and the photo that the engraving is based on, taken on one of our regular walks on Ilkley Moor.

#birds #NaturalHistory #nature #art #PrintMaking #WoodEngraving

Another fine day on the moor. Passed several busy stonechat ...

2025-06-11T09:04:39Z

Another fine day on the moor. Passed several busy stonechat families over the course of a short walk.

Ilkley Moor, the alternative reality I can escape to in minutes. ...

2025-06-10T07:33:47Z

Ilkley Moor, the alternative reality I can escape to in minutes. A distant horizon, the absence, mostly, of human clamour - and the wildlife, sadly depleted in this impoverished island, but still glorious.

A 180x90mm wood engraving. Gritstone, lichens and mosses, bilberry, cottongrass, crowberry and heather, green hairstreak butterfly, adder, curlew and red kite. And the ever present meadow pipit.

and....

#art #WoodEngraving #printmaking #wildlife #NaturalHistory #birds

Lemonwood engraving block (180x90mm) and the first test print off ...

2025-06-08T10:50:57Z

Lemonwood engraving block (180x90mm) and the first test print off the block - fauna and flora on Ilkley Moor. Some tidying up needed here and there, particularly the sky, but almost done.

#WoodEngraving #printmaking #art #NaturalHistory #wildlife #birds

Nostr event nevent1qqs9u7gz4lctzkarht7f4jx3v3j83v0qcp8p6de2xq5rvglex53huvczypv5lusm0jzrt0l5xz58f3td0klhh4zfq0tmp8cu9qmq02hxt0esjjqu9qk

2025-06-07T11:12:48Z

Progress... #WoodEngraving #art #wildlife #NaturalHistory #birds ...

2025-06-03T16:11:47Z

Progress...

#WoodEngraving #art #wildlife #NaturalHistory #birds

A slice of invertebrate life in the garden. Details in alt text. ...

2025-05-31T16:51:02Z

A slice of invertebrate life in the garden. Details in alt text.

Sparrowhawk with breakfast, 3m outside the sitting room window. ...

2025-05-31T08:13:18Z

Sparrowhawk with breakfast, 3m outside the sitting room window. Tim Robinson described one in similar circumstances in Stones of Aran "as impatiently self-contained as a clenched fist".

Walk upstream along the Wharfe and you enter limestone country, a ...

2025-05-06T21:12:49Z

Walk upstream along the Wharfe and you enter limestone country, a karst landscape very different to that of the gritstone around home. Different rock, different ecosystems - rock rose and mountain pansy are two of many species you won't find on Ilkley Moor.

A walk on the river and into the woods before second breakfast. ...

2025-05-01T08:55:30Z

A walk on the river and into the woods before second breakfast. On the air waves... blackbird, song thrush, mistle thrush, robin, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, willow warbler, chiffchaff, blackcap, wren, nuthatch, great spotted woodpecker, blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits, dunnock, various corvids, black-headed gulls...etc.

Two weeks after the first chiffchaffs arrived, the willow ...

2025-04-08T16:28:28Z

Two weeks after the first chiffchaffs arrived, the willow warblers are in from southern Africa. The chiffchaffs fill the gardens in the town and the trees on the very edge of the moor. The willow warblers prefer the higher slopes of the moor, before the trees (primarily birch, rowan, hawthorn, willow, holly, yew) run out. They like a few trees to sing from but usually nest on the ground.

Time for lunch before walking up onto Ilkley Moor... ...

2025-04-08T11:27:14Z

Time for lunch before walking up onto Ilkley Moor...

If you are still wondering, the lava is from the Washington/Idaho ...

2025-03-25T10:30:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…9vk2
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If you are still wondering, the lava is from the Washington/Idaho border, long before Mt Rainier existed. Lots of info here from Nick Zentner at Central Washington U.
https://www.nickzentner.com
From 5 min PBS overviews to deep dives into geology.

Today has been blue. ...

2025-03-16T16:35:40Z

Today has been blue.

On #WorldWildlifeDay: two hibernating Pond Bats. They have ...

2025-03-03T16:58:51Z

On #WorldWildlifeDay: two hibernating Pond Bats. They have allowed their body temperature to drop to the ambient 6C, to slow metabolism so that stored fat will last them through the winter. In the humid environment of an abandoned mine, water has condensed on their fur.

Last night, fuelled by Lagavulin (Distillers Edition) I made an ...

2025-02-12T10:02:34Z

Last night, fuelled by Lagavulin (Distillers Edition) I made an extravagantly gestural watercolour of a stormy Ilkley Moor and went to bed thinking it was a bit of a mess but at least it had released a bit of tension.
This morning I threw a frame over it and...

Tomorrow (4 Feb.) the 87th annual exhibition of the Society of ...

2025-02-03T22:59:16Z

Tomorrow (4 Feb.) the 87th annual exhibition of the Society of Wood Engravers opens at the Bankside Gallery in London (next to Tate Modern). Contemporary engravings from the UK and overseas.
https://www.societyofwoodengravers.co.uk/exhibitions
All work can be seen on the website shortly after opening.
https://www.societyofwoodengravers.co.uk/shop/87th-annual-exhibition-2025

Below, Forcan Ridge, NW Scotland.

Variations on a favourite Ilkley Moor boulder: photo, ...

2025-01-26T22:06:34Z

Variations on a favourite Ilkley Moor boulder: photo, watercolour, wood engraving.

I hoped to start my largest engraving to date today but I'm still waiting for new woodblocks to arrive.

The ruins of Byland Abbey in North Yorkshire at sunset today. A ...

2025-01-17T19:36:12Z

The ruins of Byland Abbey in North Yorkshire at sunset today. A 12th century Cistercian monastery in early gothic style, built from local Hambleton Oolite limestone from the Jurassic, 160 mya. A beautiful stone under any light but on days like today, breathtaking.

A happy holiday to all. Watching the snow fall from the warmth of ...

2024-12-23T09:19:45Z

A happy holiday to all.

Watching the snow fall from the warmth of an Edinburgh tenement flat a few years ago.

From the walk to one of our favourite places, Rubha Hunish, on ...

2024-12-16T11:48:52Z

From the walk to one of our favourite places, Rubha Hunish, on the northern tip of Skye. Looking across to the mainland and the mountains of Torridon and beyond.
One of the first sketches I made (2017) that persuaded me I just might get a grip on watercolour. I haven't changed my opinion. I still think I might get a grip on watercolour one day.

Today, I wanted to be on a beach in the NW of Scotland. ...

2024-12-14T17:57:07Z

Today, I wanted to be on a beach in the NW of Scotland.

Some random watercolour nature found in searching for an ink ...

2024-12-05T15:17:20Z

Some random watercolour nature found in searching for an ink sketch I have yet to locate. Disorganised storage has the one benefit of reminding me what I've done.

#art #watercolour #nature

Four Scottish mountains in walnut ink that I'd like to turn ...

2024-11-25T22:40:52Z

Four Scottish mountains in walnut ink that I'd like to turn into wood engravings. So far I've struggled to take them beyond uninspiring rough plans... but I like the ink sketches.
Clockwise from top left: the granite peaks of Arran, quartz-arenite-topped Beinn Eighe, the ancient Applecross sandstone of Beinn Mhòr na Coigich and Ben Loyal's quartz-syenite castles.

#geology #Scotland #mountains #art

A late afternoon walk in the woods. ...

2024-11-13T16:09:54Z

A late afternoon walk in the woods.

Morning mist on the moor... ...

2024-11-05T18:26:13Z

Morning mist on the moor...

First test print from a 140x60mm lemonwood block. A wood ...

2024-11-04T11:59:28Z

First test print from a 140x60mm lemonwood block. A wood engraving of Ailsa Craig. First prints can be thin and patchy as the ink does not take well to the block, but it's good enough to show me how to finish the engraving.

Ailsa Craig is a ~60 million year old pluton of microgranite. The rock columns may resemble those of the Giant's Causeway but are not formed by cooling-induced cracking. Glacier-transported erratics have been found as far away as Pembrokeshire and Donegal.

Four Torridon squares. Lichens on sandstone, glacier-polished ...

2024-10-28T14:14:32Z

Four Torridon squares. Lichens on sandstone, glacier-polished quartzite, beach, Caledonian forest.

Yes, I'm procrastinating. Yes, I should get on with one of my many tasks.

Arrived today, new blocks for engraving. Wood engraving differs ...

2024-10-15T13:40:59Z

Arrived today, new blocks for engraving. Wood engraving differs from woodcut in that the image is cut into the polished endgrain of very fine-grained species (see ALT text) using tools derived from metal engraving. The image is drawn in reverse onto the polished surface that has been inked and allowed to dry. The design is revealed in unstained wood as it is cut. The finished block is given a thin coat of letterpress ink with a hard rubber roller and printed by burnishing or with a press.

Ailsa Craig, a microgranite island in the Firth of Clyde. At 340m ...

2024-10-12T15:08:33Z

Ailsa Craig, a microgranite island in the Firth of Clyde. At 340m (1,120 ft) it's high enough to qualify as a candidate 'mountain' for the wood engravings I am working on. Getting a feel for the possibilities through some quick watercolour sketches.
The red dot? I have a cold which gives me an occasional nosebleed!

2/2... enhancing the view. ...

2024-09-26T11:26:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…2ux8
_________________________

2/2... enhancing the view.

Walk in the rain along home stretch of River Wharfe. Sycamore ...

2024-09-26T11:22:08Z

Walk in the rain along home stretch of River Wharfe. Sycamore lying across the river, loud cracks coming from big rootball as roots snapped and tree turned downstream.
Two more trees trapped on bridge cutwaters 100m upstream, just a few weeks after two were removed from cutwaters.
Summer rain makes trees top heavy in saturated soil and river/wind brings them down.
If they can be left in situ they diversify river habitats, benefitting wildlife ... and 1/2....

Four small wood engraving prints. Clockwise from top left: ...

2024-09-25T20:17:39Z

Four small wood engraving prints. Clockwise from top left: Middleton Wood, Ilkley: Pines on Ilkley Moor: Rubha Hunish, Skye: the Forcan Ridge, Glen Shiel.

Top two - selected for the travelling exhibition of the Society of Wood Engravers in 2023 and 2024.
Lower two - just submitted in the hope that they will be selected for the 2025 exhibition.

More on my website: https://johnaltringham.co.uk

Up on the moor for sunrise. A morning of rapidly shifting cloud ...

2024-08-16T10:23:06Z

Up on the moor for sunrise. A morning of rapidly shifting cloud and sunlight, heather in flower, a heavy, sparkling dew and midges at a nuisance level I rarely encounter outside Scotland.

A hot day on Ilkley Moor, soaring buzzard and red kite, a flock ...

2024-08-11T15:06:32Z

A hot day on Ilkley Moor, soaring buzzard and red kite, a flock of swallows.
One of many stiles in the drystone walls on the moor. Why the double ditch leading up to the wall? The steep footpath onto the moor beyond the stile is laid with irregular, close-fitting stones. It looks to only ever have been suitable for foot traffic (and perhaps agile horses). It appears to be very old. There are no clues on the OS map. Another layer in the moor's historical palimpsest.

...While we are still on the top, Ilkley Moor is rich in ...

2024-06-29T10:02:37Z

...While we are still on the top, Ilkley Moor is rich in prehistoric sites from the Iron Age back through the Bronze Age to the Neolithic. There are over 250 carved stones (mainly Bronze Age "cup & ring") in addition to stone circles, settlement sites and other monuments. Although reasonably well documented many go unnoticed by people passing close by on well-used footpaths. Often unspectacular, sitting by some of them can nevertheless play with your sense of time and perspective.

Now - sunset, with screaming swifts. ...

2024-06-14T20:59:58Z

Now - sunset, with screaming swifts.

More Scottish mountains. A rough but reasonably accurate walnut ...

2024-05-29T16:05:48Z

More Scottish mountains. A rough but reasonably accurate walnut ink sketch - the first step towards a small wood engraving.
Can anyone name the three peaks, from left to right, with a bonus point for the mountain they are viewed from?

At the request of @npub1vmj…8a55 - more autumn leaves. ...

2024-05-27T19:24:11Z

At the request of Bryan Williams (npub1vmj…8a55) - more autumn leaves.

A quick portrait of one of the local pine martens. I brought only ...

2024-05-16T13:46:30Z

A quick portrait of one of the local pine martens.

I brought only two watercolour tubes with me, so can't do justice to its rich coat.

5 am this morning, Isleornsay, Skye. ...

2024-05-16T06:48:14Z

5 am this morning, Isleornsay, Skye.

Another day, another light on Loch Hourn across the Sound of ...

2024-05-15T15:58:44Z

Another day, another light on Loch Hourn across the Sound of Sleat. A calm, cloudy blue start, clearing over breakfast to a sunlit spring day. Great Northern Divers (loons) in the bay, swallows overhead.

Sunrise over Glenelg and Knoydart this morning, viewed from ...

2024-05-13T14:04:01Z

Sunrise over Glenelg and Knoydart this morning, viewed from Duisdalemore, Skye, across the Sound of Sleat. The young but gnarly oaks are just coming into leaf and their trunks have a rich community of lichens and mosses.