iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by John Altringham

Jonathan Pomroy @jonathanpomroy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

House martins depart as pink- footed geese arrive! A blog at jonathanpomroy.wordpress.com Plus a look at my forthcoming exhibitions this autumn.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

An ink sketch develops into a wood engraving project. Lots of variations possible, but first a lot of engraving to finish. Basalt cliffs of Rubha Hunish, Isle of Skye, Scotland. #WoodEngraving #printmaking #art #landscape #Scotland #geology

Panoramic, 75cm wide walnut ink drawing of basalt sea cliffs.

Equally spaced segments of the drawing transferred to nine lemonwood blocks, the central three being twice the size of the others. A work in progress, the blocks are only partially engraved. NB - the engravings are reversed, so that on printing the image will be the right way round.

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Butterfly Conservation @savebutterflies.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

In the last 120 years, we have lost over 50 species of native moths, and suspect many others are now at risk of extinction 🔴 This autumn, we're taking on a ‘moth-umental’ task to create the first-ever Red List for Britain’s macro-moths, and we need your help 👉 www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/moths-matter

A large orange-brown moth with leaf-shaped wings and a long snout, resting on a dead plant stem

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

There is a foraminifera sculpture park in Zhongshan, Guangdong, the outcome of the vision of Pakistani-American marine geologist Bilal Haq and Chinese marine biologist Zheng Shouyi, honestly there should be more in more cities

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Disturbed by K gardening - Silver Y, Autographa gamma. It had vibrated its flight muscles up to operating temperature and flown before I could catch its handsome profile.

Moth at rest showing of its intricate patterning of rich and varied browns with a striking gold y-shaped marking on each forewing

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Douglas Cheape @douglascheape.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900) Look at that sea!

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Wil Freeborn @freeborn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Moniaive village view

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I've updated my website, adding new engravings, together with watercolours and ink sketches that span most of the 10 years I've been looking for fun and fulfilment in art. www.johnaltringham.co.uk #art #WoodEngraving #printmaking #watercolour #landscape #mountains #sketching #nature

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Quinag in the far NW of Scotland, an ancient sandstone mountain on a bed of Lewisian gneiss more than half as old as the Earth. Great Close Hill near home in Yorkshire, a low, symmetrical shield of Great Scar Limestone, a hard rock that slowly dissolves in rain water into karst landscape and caves.

Watercolour and ink sketch of a lop-sided conical mountain with deep gullies on its flanks.

Watercolour sketch of a low, symmetrical, shield-shaped hill on a dark winter day, with a light dusting of snow.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

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Fiona McLees @mclees-fiona.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This is a lovely sketchbook I was assessing yesterday - by Welsh artist Calvert “Richard the Rev” Jones, largely of maritime scenes. He lived in Swansea so many are of the sea there in 1828-1831, elegantly rendered. But there’s a couple of nice bonuses in the book…

A watercolour and ink drawing of boats at sea, full sails billowing, executed in blacks and greys and pale brown and dusky pink

Another boat scene, this time monochrome in dark blue-grey

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The view from Sahale Mountain - Forbidden Peak centre ground, Eldorado Peak back left, emerging from the Eldorado and Inspiration Glaciers, two of many Cascade glaciers threatened by climate change. Cascades, Washington State, USA. #watercolour #art #mountains #landscape #ClimateChange

An 'alpine' landscape of rocky peaks and arêtes, small glaciers and spring snow, all under a blue sky.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Playing with some new multimedia sketchbooks - rough sketch in walnut and acrylic inks with watercolours and acrylic paint. St Kilda, after an etching by the great Norman Ackroyd.

Rocky islands in a rough sea with seabirds. Sketch on gray-blue paper, in walnut ink, acrylic ink, acrylic paint and watercolour paint.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Rubha Hunish, the northern tip of Skye. Walnut ink - it is still wet but I've been kicked back into the world. 75 x 20 cm. #Scotland #Skye #landscape #art #sketching

75cm wide ink sketch in walnut ink (warm brown) of a long coastal cliff from a narrow peninsula beneath it. The cliff of columnar basalt recedes to the distant horizon on both sides of the sketch.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Rubha Hunish, the northern tip of Skye. Walnut ink - it is still wet but I've been kicked back into the world. 75 x 20 cm. #Scotland #Skye #landscape #art #sketching

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Using masks with a single woodblock to vary ink tone is proving to be easier than expected. A useful way to increase the sense of depth in the print. Forcan Ridge, NW #Scotland. #WoodEngraving #mountains #art #landscape

Wood engraving print of a rocky, narrow mountain ridge printed in grey and black ink.

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Ian Brooks @ianmbrooks.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

'Iceberg, 84.5N' - etching - 17x12 cm - edition of 20.

Blue, tonal, aquatint etching of an iceberg in sea ice.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Experiments in wood engraving and printing. No, I have no idea where I am going with this.

Relief printing inks rolled out on a glass plate with streaks of more ink on top, ready to be rolled.

Wood engraving print of wave breaking along a cliff. The cliff is an irregular mix of the browns and chalky greens in the previous picture.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

More watercolours of the dippers on the R Wharfe. A grey wagtail because I was bored with sketching dippers (never bored of the dippers themselves). A small, speedy kingfisher sketch because I need to clear my work table for a new project.

Watercolour sketches of birds that live along our local river. Mainly sketches of dippers with a grey wagtail and a hastily done kingfisher to finish.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Dipper on my local stretch of the River Wharfe, sketched yesterday afternoon as I listened to test match cricket online. I may do it again today.

Watercolour of a dipper on a rock. Dippers are small, dumpy birds with dark brown back and wings, chestnut abdomen and white breast and throat. They forage on aquatic invertebrates on the bottom of shallow, fast flowing, rocky streams and rivers.

Dipper foraging in shallow water, the chestnut brown of its head glowing in low sunlight.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Welcome rain, light but persistent, all day. Watching the garden drip and sketching swifts from the many mediocre photographs I took this summer. I had not really taken on board how blue/black the juveniles are until recently.

Watercolour sketches of swifts in flight, rolling, banking, stall turning, diving...

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

A stile with an Ordnance Survey benchmark, near Ilkley. The brass rivet above the arrow is at 202.899m asl according to the OS Benchmark Archive. But why is there another benchmark on the left upright on the other side? @lakesstiles.bsky.social

Step stile in drystone wall, with survey benchmark on bottom step - a three pronged arrow cut into the stone, pointing to a brass rivet.

The same stile from the other side, with a second benchmark.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

On #YorkshireDay - Scar Close and Ingleborough, Whitestone Cliff and Goremire Lake, Kettlewell in Wharfedale, the view north from Ilkley Moor.

Limestone pavement with a rich community of flowers and trees growing in the deep grikes between the pale grey, water-smoothed clints of Carboniferous limestone. In the distance, Ingleborough, a layer cake of limestones, sandstones and shales.

A view from the top of a pale limestone cliff into the low evening sun. Below the cliff a lake is surrounded by sunlit trees. Green fields and hedges recede into the distance.

A sunlit post-glacial, u-shaped valley with small fields in a network of drystone walls. Above the fields on the steeper slopes there is woodland. In the foreground a stone-built village.

Winter panorama of gentle snow-covered hills across a green, wooded valley.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Down by the river - grey wagtails busy foraging to feed their young.

Three photos of grey wagtails collecting insects among water-smoothed pebbles and cobbles on the river's edge. Slender birds with long, wagging tails, grey backs, dark wings, yellow rumps.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Afternoon walk along the riverbank. Plenty of butterflies, including this small skipper, and a few garden 'escapees' among the wild flowers.

$A path lined with wild and not-so-wild flowers passes through a large, fractured and collapsed, but still growing, willow.$ A big patch of meadow cranesbill among long grasses.

A big patch of meadow cranesbill among long grasses.

A small skipper butterfly on a grass stem.

Another bold display of wild and not-so-wild flowers on a riverbank.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Dispersing thunderclouds over Ilkley Moor.

Panorama of breaking and dispersing clouds over moorland.

Dense, billowing, overlapping clouds from dark grey to shining white, blue sky at the far right.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Part of a small flock of starlings catch yesterday evening's light as they turn above me, tails fanned in synchrony.

Six sunlit starlings in flight in a blue sky.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The local swifts chasing and screaming. Sunset yesterday from our bedroom window. #swifts #sunset

A small group of swifts in an orange sunset, seen from a distance.

A group of swifts, sharp black silhouettes against an orange sunset.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The local swifts chasing and screaming. Sunset yesterday from our bedroom window. #swifts #sunset

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Wednesday evening walk along the River Wharfe. Goosander, oystercatcher and common sandpiper with young, sand martins in and out of their nests in the bank, curlews calling in the adjacent fields, blackbird, song thrush and mistle thrush competing from the trees, the flash of a kingfisher to end.

A river, crossed by an old stone bridge, seen through a gap in dense vegetation.

A narrow riverside path through bankside willows and other greenery.

An ancient willow that has split and collapsed many times but remains vigorous. One collapsed branch lies across the path.

Field of long grasses and wildflowers with the trees of the riverbank beyond. The sun is just going down.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Watercolour sketches started yesterday and finished this morning. Changing light over the Sound of Sleat from Isleornsay, Skye. #watercolour #landscape #mountains #Scotland #art

Watercolour in blues. Early mist and cloud are clearing from mountains seen across a sea passage. The sea is deep blue under a band of heavy cloud but for a bright, sunlit patch in the centre.

Watercolour in blues. Low mist obscures the meeting of mountains and sea across the centre of the picture. The sea is almost calm and reflects the mountains and sky.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

For those who need a little light relief today - the garden in June. A young robin, azure damselfly, wood mouse, zebra jumping spider. Best not to think about their feeding habits.

Young robin sat on a fence in the sun, head tilted to one side

Tiny jumping spider on a leaf, looking directly at the camera.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Three wood engraving prints selected by the Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk, for their summer exhibition, 11 July - 29 August. www.zillahbellgallery.co.uk

Three wood engravings, printed in black ink, in black frames.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Wood engraving, Cir Mhòr, Arran. Printed in three graded ink layers to enhance the aerial perspective I failed to capture in the engraving! Time-consuming but I learned a few things. 150x100 mm. #art #prints #printmaking #mountains #Scotland #landscape

Print in grey and black inks of a wood engraving. A view across a vertical rock buttress to rocky mountains and ridges, with lowlands and sea beyond.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

The geologist James Hutton was born in Edinburgh 300 years ago tomorrow. Two slices of Scottish geology I (an ecologist) have enjoyed studying. The Moine Thrust Mylonites at Faraid Head, Balnekeil Bay and lichens on a basalt dyke in Lewisian gneiss, Raasay. #geology #JamesHutton #DeepTime #Scotland

watercolour of dipping rock planes on a beach with numerous bedding planes and faults at right angles to each other. And a distinctive horizontal tide mark of barnacles and other lifeforms.

watercolour - a basalt dyke, richly coated in colourful lichens cuts through grey Lewisian gneiss with its own grey, lichen community.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

In case you missed it: interactivemaps.uk/os-benchmark... The OS Benchmark Archive - memorials to how survey/mapping used to be done. If you have access they are on OS Maps Desktop too. There is a benchmark on the wall at the bottom of our garden. #maps #mapping #OrdnanceSurvey

Old sandstone wall with a survey benchmark at its base.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Swifts over the moon, part 2. Another attempt. Conclusion: I cannot get an in focus moon AND swift in one shot. I thought perhaps stopping down might just do it... no. Here's a fuzzy swift flying between me and the moon.

Out of focus swift flies across the face of the early evening moon.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Just spent a happy 40 min trying to photograph swifts crossing the moon. Futile. Here's the moon. They are still out there, crossing it.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

House martins have investigated the gable of the house opposite for several years but this is the first time they have done so early enough to build nests there. A couple of fuzzy photos taken today, better ones to come I hope. #birds #nesting #nature

House martins investigate the gable of a stone-built house as a possible nesting site. One is almost hidden, clinging to the wall behind the barge-board. Another is clinging on to the wall below it and a third flies by.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Symmetry and order - fern fronds (soft shield fern?) in a shady corner of the garden.

Fresh green symmetry and order in fern frond pinnules shaped like parsley leaves.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Symmetry and order - fern fronds (soft shield fern?) in a shady corner of the garden.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Five years ago to the hour. For the first time in years we will miss the May light in the NW of Scotland.

Beinn Sgritheall across the Sound of Sleat, Skye. Sunset turns the mountain a pale apricot colour and clouds scatter shadows, helping to reveal the mountain relief.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

A day to go down to the river and watch the dippers.

A dipper, a round, chestnut brown bird with a white bib standing in a shallow, fast flowing river, lit by a low sun.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

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.

Wood engraving print of a ruined castle on a headland under a stormy sky. Waves roll and break on a beach in the foreground, the wind rips spray backwards off the wave tops. Printed with a colour gradient from blue-black sky and headband to a mid-blue with a hint of green sea.

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John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Another watercolour island from the 'air', sketched from a LiDAR reconstruction: Hirta and Soay, St Kilda.

Monochrome watercolour of rugged, 3D islands on a 'paper' sea, seen from the air.

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