John Altringham
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johnaltringham.bsky.social
John Altringham
@johnaltringham.bsky.social
200 followers 110 following 170 posts
Scientist, conservationist, mountain-lover, artist. Happiest outdoors.
https://johnaltringham.co.uk
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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · Mar 27
Mainly mountains. Mainly monochrome.
Walnut ink (rich brown) sketch of a mountain ridge. Print in black ink of a wood engraving. The view along a mountain ridge. Monochrome watercolour of a rugged, layered mountain landscape. Watercolour. Mountain ridge under snow.
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Wherever we walk, goldcrests.
A tiny olive green passerine bird on a branch, unmistakable with its black-bordered, gold stripe sweeping back between its large, dark eyes.
December 3, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
tracing-silence.bsky.social
_
December 3, 2025 at 5:37 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
When it quickly becomes clear you should have used a bigger sheet of paper.
Edinburgh from Calton Hill, a quick and dodgy sketch in ink and watercolour.
A rough sepia ink panorama of the Edinburgh skyline from Calton Hill, with some rougher watercolour fill.
November 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Today's rapid and loose watercolour sketch of a landmark Edinburgh building - the entrance to the Neo-gothic National Portrait Gallery.
Rapid and very loose watercolour of an ornate entrance to a red sandstone building. The frontage is crowded with pointed neo-gothic arches, statues in the niches of carved pillars and windows with elaborate surrounds.
November 27, 2025 at 5:14 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Quick, loose watercolour of Barclay Church on the edge of Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh. One of many Edinburgh buildings I sketched when I first picked up watercolours. I thought I'd revisit a few with a more relaxed approach...
Loose and somewhat messy watercolour sketch in blue-black of an elaborate 19C church with a large spire.
November 26, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
freeborn.bsky.social
Painting this tree line before the rain came in
Watercolour of a line of bare trees in silhouette with an overcast day with slight sign of the sun through the clouds
November 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
This morning's watercolour, 25x9cm. Painted through the pain of the first Ashes test match. Cricket, eh.
Watercolour. Hazy blue mountains lit by scattered light breaking a high bank of cloud The same light sparkles on a dark sea.
November 22, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by John Altringham
janerushtonart.bsky.social
Sepia morning
November 22, 2025 at 9:13 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
A bat we ringed 20 years ago. Study long since over, data analysed, published, a small chapter in a bigger story. We all moved on to new challenges, new jobs. To us it's history.
But this wee fella gets on with life, still doing what he did then. Surviving in a world we are fast turning upside down.
batworker.bsky.social Dave A @batworker.bsky.social · 14d
Massive influx of Natterer’s bats at valley level marks the official start of hibernation season (last week they were still swarming). And the cherry on top was the return of Z0266, a bat ringed as an adult in 2005. That makes four 21+ year old 🦇 still turning up ( @johnaltringham.bsky.social )
A ringed Natterer’s bat in hibernation
November 21, 2025 at 3:38 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
More from the wonderful, inimitable Lisa O'Neill
lisa-oneill.bandcamp.com/album/the-wi...
The Wind Doesn't Blow This Far Right, by Lisa O'Neill
6 track album
lisa-oneill.bandcamp.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:04 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Watercolour on Two Rivers handmade paper, the thick stuff. 79x56 cm.
Watercolour, 79x56cm. Scattered autumn leaves of many species on a white background. And a few seeds, berries and invertebrates.
November 20, 2025 at 7:22 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Kilmaluag, Trotternish, Skye, NW Scotland

Lenticular clouds
Lit by moon and setting sun
Spill off The Quiraing
Panoramic photo. The sun has just gone down over a flat plain of rough pasture, scattered white cottages and tumbledown drystone walls. Off the high snout of a cliff a SW wind blows waves of lenticular clouds, pink in the setting sun, rising gently from right to left. The moon hangs in the middle of the clear blue sky, above the clouds.
November 14, 2025 at 7:38 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Photo. Dark clouds, mountains, mist, sea, sunlight, sparkle, silver linings.
November 13, 2025 at 11:29 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Great Close Scar, Malham, Yorkshire Dales
Grainy colour (but looks monochrome) photo of a low, broad, smooth, symmetrically convex hill with a powdering of snow under a grey winter sky.
November 7, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by John Altringham
shinhangadaily.bsky.social
Hiroto Norikane - Persimmons - Red Sunset Sky, Evening Glow
#ShinHanga #Woodblock #Print #JapaneseArt #Ukiyo-e
November 5, 2025 at 1:30 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
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?
Colour photo. Extensively faulted rock cliff dipping into a smooth, horizontal beach under a blue sky. Watercolour of same Monochrome photo of same.
October 30, 2025 at 12:15 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Very pleased to report that my wood engraving "Oak" has been selected for the 88th annual exhibition of the Society of Wood Engravers. The exhibition will tour the UK in 2026, starting at the Bankside Gallery, London in February.
Print in black ink of a wood engraving 75x150mm. A broad, gnarly trunk of an oak tree with a gatepost, broken wooden fence and wildflowers in front of it.
October 28, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by John Altringham
ianmbrooks.bsky.social
inkwyrm.com - thankfully AI can't (yet) make etchings.
sepia toned print of a snow covered mountain, partly shrouded by cloud - an aquatint etching sepia toned print (aquatint etching) of a snow covered mountain seen across a dark sea. Ribbons of cloud or rain fall from a dark sky.
October 26, 2025 at 5:17 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Work in progress, watercolour autumn, for my sister. 80x60cm.
The paintbrush on the ceramic rest and the leaf to the right of them are real, given away by their shadows. Painted leaves will all have painted shadows to pop them out of the paper and bring them to life, or in this case, senescence.
Large watercolour (c. 80x60 cm) of autumn leaves on rough watercolour paper. Single or small groups of leaves of many species, with seeds, fruit, invertebrates, etc., many still to be added.
October 22, 2025 at 11:40 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
A stormy autumn day on the Northumberland coast. Dunstanburgh Castle and Embleton Bay. Photo, watercolour and wood engraving print. From the archives - walks and wild weather currently off limits, hopefully not for too long.
Colour photo. Ruined castle on a headland behind waves breaking on a beach. Spray from waves swept back by strong gale. All under a dark, cloudy sky with sunlight almost breaking through. Watercolour based on previous and similar photos. Print in black ink from a wood engraving of the same scene.
October 5, 2025 at 10:27 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Today I became an elected member of the Society of Wood Engravers, a reminder of the imminent entry deadline for the 2026 annual exhibition. Shown, engravings selected by SWE in 2023-5 and a probable entry for 2026. Good news in hard times.

johnaltringham.co.uk

@lakesstiles.bsky.social - 2 stiles!
Wood engraving print in black ink. A steep woodland path over tree roots leads to a stile in a broken fence. Beyond, a field, a tree and open sky. Wood engraving print in black ink. Four thick curvy pine tree trunks dance on the edge of moorland, lit by a low sun from the right. Wood engraving print in black ink. A narrow, rocky mountain arête, lit by a low sun from the right. Wood engraving print in black ink. A bold male stonechat watches me from an unfurling bracken frond as I cross his path on my way to a stile in a drystone wall.
September 30, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
freeborn.bsky.social
Glasgow’s Burnfield bakery window
A window of a bakery with shelves filled with croissants, buns, cakes a tenement building is also in the reflection
September 25, 2025 at 11:59 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Watercolour, 26x10cm. Looking towards Cape Wrath from Faraid Head, Balnakeil Beach, Scotland. A sea fog or "haar" has rolled in over the coast to our west while we bask in warm sunshine.
Coastal watercolour. Gentle, wind-blown, turquoise waves break on a white sand beach. The headland on the right is bathed in sunshine, that on the left enveloped in fog which sits low on the sea right across the back of the sketch.
September 24, 2025 at 3:34 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Watercolour sketch, 15x7.5 cm.
Watercolour of thin washes - coastal hills and mountains backed by a thick cloud bank.
September 16, 2025 at 2:47 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Machair and morning mist, again. Watercolour, 25x15cm.
A deep blue sea turns turquoise as it sweeps up a white sand beach. Low waves break on the sand. Behind the beach soft green machair-covered dunes are backed by mist and blue-distant hills under a grey-blue sky. Calm.
September 16, 2025 at 9:17 AM