Painting this tree line before the rain came in

This morning's watercolour, 25x9cm. Painted through the pain of the first Ashes test match. Cricket, eh.

Sepia morning

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.

More from the wonderful, inimitable Lisa O'Neill lisa-oneill.bandcamp.com/album/the-wi...

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

Kilmaluag, Trotternish, Skye, NW Scotland Lenticular clouds Lit by moon and setting sun Spill off The Quiraing

Great Close Scar, Malham, Yorkshire Dales

Hiroto Norikane - Persimmons - Red Sunset Sky, Evening Glow #ShinHanga #Woodblock #Print #JapaneseArt #Ukiyo-e

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?

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.

inkwyrm.com - thankfully AI can't (yet) make etchings.

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.

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.

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!

Glasgow’s Burnfield bakery window

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.

Watercolour sketch, 15x7.5 cm.

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

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. #watercolour #art #Scotland #Hebrides #landscape

Watercolour 26x15 cm. Mt Whitney, Sierra Nevada, CA. Persuaded by yesterday's quick sketch to take a little more time and care over a larger version. More often than not I prefer the quick sketch but not this time. #mountains #art #watercolour #granite

Mid-morning walk on Ilkley Moor, heather in full bloom. It's warm, windless and humid, perfect for a Flying Ant Day - millions and millions of mating ants throughout a 10km walk.

Afternoon walk in the woods. Tree-dwellers: chicken in the woods fungus and artichoke, cherry and knopper gall wasps on oak

From the garden.

Early morning walk on Ilkley Moor before the weather had settled on a plan for the day. July, but we have late summer colours already.

First test print of a new wood engraving - a wren singing on a tree stump. Above it, a sonogram of part of its song.

Wood engraving in progress - singing wren. The sonogram (frequency and intensity v time), like the bird, is reversed so that it prints the right way. #WoodEngraving #birds #nature #art #PrintMaking #BirdSong

Morning walk on Ilkley Moor, already hot. A good day for butterflies, which included, clockwise from top left: ringlet, small copper, small skipper and small heath. Now sitting in the shade at home, following the test match on the internet.

From this morning's walk on the moor - a jet flying down the shadow of its own contrail. The shadow, although not projected onto the ground or cloud, is visible because the effects of Rayleigh scattering (which make the sky appear blue) are diminished in this zone.

Rough bark, smooth curves

Not my usual style or subject, but on a day threatening thunderstorms - a watercolour of later summer (it feels like that) from a walk along the northern edge of Ilkley Moor. Still green and flowering, but turning to gold and seed heads. Bilberries passing their best, blackberries yet to peak.

Morning walk along the River Wharfe before the day gets too hot. The river is clear but whisky-coloured after recent rain. Ripples over the gravel bars tickle and cool the feet.

An early walk on Ilkley Moor. Rocky Valley, small crags and large boulders, an ancient landslip zone. A stonechat obligingly sits on a gritstone boulder to give it scale. Crowberries are abundant - edible, but uninteresting. The bilberries will be dense enough for picking soon.

Stonechat artistic stilin' 🥰🥰🥰

Swift

Stonechat. Wood engraving (100x100mm), 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. Stonechats like to perch conspicuously and watch you. #birds #NaturalHistory #nature #art #PrintMaking #WoodEngraving

Stonechat. Wood engraving (100x100mm), 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. Stonechats like to perch conspicuously and watch you. #birds #NaturalHistory #nature #art #PrintMaking #WoodEngraving

Curlew in the cottongrass.

Watercolour sketches, Scottish mountains. Can you name them?

Broad-bodied chaser, azure damselfly and large red damselfly. A hot afternoon, and the next few will be hotter. We sat in the shade at RHS Harlow Carr garden in Harrogate, watching these efficient aerial predators zipping about the pools along the beck.

Watercolour islands

On the R Wharfe

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

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

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

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".