John Altringham
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johnaltringham.bsky.social
John Altringham
@johnaltringham.bsky.social
220 followers 110 following 200 posts
Scientist, conservationist, mountain-lover, artist. Happiest outdoors.
https://johnaltringham.co.uk
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johnaltringham.bsky.social
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.
Reposted by John Altringham
bookshop.org
While independent bookstores are giving out free whistles, hosting protest sign making events, and donating proceeds to mutual aid, Amazon is *checks notes* providing technology that assists ICE in their terrorizing of communities.

Independent bookstores deserve your support. Amazon does not.
January 27, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
zzsylvester.bsky.social
I added a page to my website that hints at the idea that I am interested in experimenting with artsy stuff when exploring landscapes with rocks and rivers zsylvester.github.io/art/
Art
Artwork by Zoltán Sylvester - photographs, prints, and 3D prints
zsylvester.github.io
January 27, 2026 at 4:13 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Howling wind and rain, the moor half-hidden in cloud. Sketching curlews throwing shapes.
Pencil sketches of curlews in flight, showing a range of dynamic shapes.
January 27, 2026 at 11:50 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Ilkley Moor. The snow turns to rain.
Monochrome photo. A rock outcrop on open, snow-covered moorland. Thawing under a wet sky.
January 26, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
There's a wonderful short film made by Ishbel Grosvenor all about the portrait and its discovery here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=StBu...
The Lost Portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn
YouTube video by Blackie House Library and Museum
www.youtube.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
paulhenni.bsky.social
Torridon aurora tonight.
A black and white photo of aurora columns above Beinn Alligin in Torridon, taken from near Annat. Scottish Highlands. Photo by and copyright of Paul Henni.
January 19, 2026 at 11:14 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
A very accessible essay on use and misuse of AI by Cory Doctorow @pluralistic
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
"Let’s say my hospital bought some AI radiology tools and told its radiologists: “Hey folks, here’s the deal. Today, you’re processing about 100 X-rays per day. From now on, we’re going to get an instantaneous second opinion from the AI, and if the AI thinks you’ve missed a tumor, we want you to go back and have another look, even if that means you’re only processing 98 X-rays per day. That’s fine, we just care about finding all those tumors.” A businessman's fist striking the Earth like a meteor, scattering debris. The rise of end times fascism Read more If that’s what they said, I’d be delighted. But no one is investing hundreds of billions in AI companies because they think AI will make radiology more expensive, not even if that also makes radiology more accurate. The market’s bet on AI is that an AI salesman will visit the CEO of Kaiser and make this pitch: “Look, you fire nine out of 10 of your radiologists, saving $20m a year. You give us $10m a year, and you net $10m a year, and the remaining radiologists’ job will be to oversee the diagnoses the AI makes at superhuman speed – and somehow remain vigilant as they do so, despite the fact that the AI is usually right, except when it’s catastrophically wrong. “And if the AI misses a tumor, this will be the human radiologist’s fault, because they are the ‘human in the loop’. It’s their signature on the diagnosis.”
January 19, 2026 at 12:30 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Wood engraving loose ends - practice blocks, doodlings, explorations, bookmarks, etc.
Prints in black ink of small wood engravings, irregular shapes no more than a few cm long or high. Island lighthouses, coasts, castles, mountains. Prints in black ink of small wood engravings, irregular shapes no more than a few cm long or high. Bat, barnacles, tree, curlew, puffin and great northern diver.
January 18, 2026 at 11:24 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
First proof print from the finished block. The columnar basalt cliffs of Rubha Hunish on the northern tip of Skye. 75x75mm wood engraving.

To the right, the engraving in a lemonwood block, after printing.
Wood engraving print in black ink of columnar basalt cliffs of Rubha Hunish on the northern tip of Skye. A steep rocky path descends from a break between the two buttresses and two tiny figures give the scene scale. Two engraving tools lie alongside. The engraving in a lemonwood block after printing. In cleaning the block after printing a little thinned ink may be wiped into the cuts obscuring some detail. This does not affect the quality of subsequent prints once the block has dried.
January 15, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
bourbonandwolfe.bsky.social
January fields, Fife.
January 14, 2026 at 2:28 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Afternoon walk on t'moor, just in time for the clouds to break and let the light in.
Panoramic photo from low on moorland, over a shaded small town in the valley bottom, to sunlit fields and shaded moorland top beyond.
January 13, 2026 at 4:30 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
About to start on the final edits to the Rubha Hunish wood engraving, aiming for a proof print before day's end.
In the meantime, to take your mind off the madness of the human world, here's Sgùrr nan Gillean in the Cuillin of Skye, in a winter snowstorm. In watercolour and wood engraving.
Watercolour. An ascending mountain ridge of three rocky pinnacles in a winter snowstorm. A print in black ink of a wood engraving of the same mountain in a snowstorm.
January 13, 2026 at 10:54 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
I had hoped to print the new Rubha Hunish wood engraving today but a test print shows I need to make a few more changes to the block. So here's another work in progress - a sparrowhawk based on a male that spent 10 min eating his freshly caught lunch right outside our sitting room window.
Print in black ink from a wood engraving. A sparrowhawk sits alert on a tree stump, with a winter tree above. Below is a walled garden with a partially opened door in the wall. A pencil and engraver are shown for scale.
January 11, 2026 at 5:59 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Wood engraving print, 75x75mm. The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney.
#StandingStoneSunday #printmaking #art #prehistory
Print in black ink of six tall, slender standing stones, part of stone circle. The stones and the ground have some realism. The sky is more graphically represented by horizontal line that increases in width as they rise through cumulus clouds.
January 11, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
paulchamberlain.bsky.social
Callanish , no drama , recent snow #StandingStoneSunday
January 11, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by John Altringham
tracing-silence.bsky.social
_
January 6, 2026 at 6:00 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Ben Alder, central highlands, Scotland. Sketch in walnut ink and a wood engraving print based on the sketch.

Working on these engravings of Scotland's mountains is a constant reminder of how many I will never see again... and that in many cases that's just fine! Give me my gnarly old favourites.
Sketch in dark brown walnut ink of a mountain showing several ridges and corries leading up to a broad, complex plateau/summit. Done in a relatively sparse, graphic style with an empty sky. A print in black ink from a wood engraving based on the ink sketch.
January 5, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
shinhangadaily.bsky.social
Hiroshi Yoshida - Eboshidake
#ShinHanga #Woodblock #Print #JapaneseArt #Ukiyo-e
January 5, 2026 at 1:30 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
On this bright and frosty morning - an Edinburgh panorama in walnut ink.
A panoramic sketch in walnut ink (rich brown) of the Arthur's Seat skyline, Edinburgh. From Whinny Hill to Salisbury Crag, viewed from just east of Holyrood.
January 4, 2026 at 10:07 AM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Wood engraving (10x10cm), close to finished. The columnar basalt cliffs of Rubha Hunish, Skye. Two tiny figures on the path give a sense of scale.
The first test print off the block. Scope for many small improvements and, as always, work to do on the clouds.
Near finished engraving on a 100x100 mm block of lemonwood. It shows a view along and up vertical columnar basalt cliffs with steep scree slopes below. A path descends towards the viewer from a distant break in the cliffs. Two tiny figures on the path give a sense of scale. A pencil and engraving tool are shown to give scale to the engraving. First test print, in black ink, of the engraving.
January 3, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Wood engraving, near finished.

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

Next, a test print...
Near finished engraving on a 100x100 mm block of lemonwood. It shows a view along and up vertical columnar basalt cliffs with steep scree slopes below. A path descends towards the viewer from a distant break in the cliffs. Two tiny figures on the path give a sense of scale. A pencil and engraving tool are shown to give scale to the engraving.
January 2, 2026 at 12:27 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
Wood engraving, near finished.

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

Next, a test print...
Near finished engraving on a 100x100 mm block of lemonwood. It shows a view along and up vertical columnar basalt cliffs with steep scree slopes below. A path descends towards the viewer from a distant break in the cliffs. Two tiny figures on the path give a sense of scale. A pencil and engraving tool are shown to give scale to the engraving.
January 2, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by John Altringham
zzsylvester.bsky.social
One of the best things that happened to me in 2025 was that we got a permit to visit The Wave in Arizona. Here are some photos from last Friday; needless to say, photos do not do justice to this place
One of the classic views of The Wave, an erosional feature carved into the Navajo Sandstone, largely into one foreset of cross bedding that shows seasonal cycles A less common view of The Wave. It is easy to spend hours in a relatively small area Right above The Wave, there is a homogeneous sandstone unit that shows beautiful polygonal weathering The Wave is part of a strictly protected area called Coyote Buttes North that has a ton of incredible Navajo Sandstone features. Cyclic bedding like the one shown here is common; the darker layers are grain flows and represent the time of the year when the dominant wind was blowing.
January 2, 2026 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by John Altringham
ianmbrooks.bsky.social
'The Quiet' - etching - 20x17.5 cm - edition of 15.

Sea ice offers limited options for a landscape artist...but that horizon pulls you in...a study of clouds more than the ice. A product of this summer's expedition on icebreaker Oden.
Aquatint etching in blue monochrome of sea ice and clouds. The clouds form a dark line on the horizon.
December 22, 2025 at 2:42 PM
johnaltringham.bsky.social
The nearest engraving I have made appropriate to a winter holiday greeting card: Schiehallion in the central Scottish Highlands. Have a good one!
Print in black ink of wood engraving. Snow covered conical peak. Below, a loch edged by trees, reflections in the water. Above, a starry night sky with a prominent Milky Way.
December 21, 2025 at 11:03 PM