First test print of a 10x10cm wood engraving in progress - part of the ruined 12C monastery of Rievaulx, N. Yorkshire. There is still work to be done. I made a huge irreversible mistake right at the beginning, fortunately unimportant for this work. Details in ALT text.

Thornhill view and coffee at Jaggy Bean

Oak trees throwing shapes in the hazy afternoon sunshine.

Glorious morning on Ilkley Moor. Highlight of walk was a flock of at least 734 wheeling and piping Golden Plovers. The first wheatears of the year have arrived, stonechats are busy and the skylarks are singing. The photo of the plover flock was taken this morning, other photos are from other walks.

Blà Bheinn from Elgol, Isle of Skye #Scotland #IsleofSkye #Highlands www.damianshields.com

Kilpeck, Herefordshire. Early 12C. #AdoorableThursday

Warm light in a cold, winter sunset at Byland Abbey in N Yorkshire, England, January 2025. One of several mediaeval monastic ruins in the area built in the beautiful local sandstone/limestone. A year later, a wood engraving in progress, the first test print made this morning.

Slioch (The Spear) overlooks Loch Maree and its islands. View from NW on the high point of the track from Poolewe to Slattadale. NW Scotland. First test print of a wood engraving, 100x65mm. There is probably not a single 1cm square that doesn't need further work but all will be small refinements.

A walk in winter sunshine on the north side of the valley, looking south to snow-covered Ilkley Moor. An otter below the weir as we crossed the old bridge. Kites and buzzards crossing the sky without a wingbeat.

Mountains inspire awe, which is easy to feel but hard to express. The duet of engraving & poem "Sgùrr nan Gillean" by @johnaltringham.bsky.social & me tries to capture this emotion with minimal means. Last planned installment of our "Light and Time" series. Free at open.substack.com/pub/blots/p/...

A palimpsest of a wall... the sort of painting you start when there's another long, wet day ahead of you. Watercolour based on a photo taken by @thisismyglasgow.bsky.social

A giant knife blade of rock, Forcan Ridge in the Scottish Highlands cuts into the sky. The 3rd "Light and Time" duet (4 planned) pairs a splendid engraving by @johnaltringham.bsky.social & a poem by me on the mountain as part of a cycle that is shaping it. Free at open.substack.com/pub/blots/p/...

A spectacular geological formation on the Isle of Skye has inspired the second "Light and Time" duet of a wood engraving by @johnaltringham.bsky.social, and then a poem by me. Enjoy! Free at open.substack.com/pub/blots/p/...

The wood engravings of @johnaltringham.bsky.social speak to me, often in the form of a poem. So I was happy when John agreed on a project, in which we show his and my work side-by-side. Share our joy in creating & savouring nature-inspired art. Free at blots.substack.com/p/light-and-...

A rapid sketch in walnut ink of what the moor might have looked like the last time I was up there if it hadn't been enveloped in rain and cloud.

For those who like to know: the Shiant Islands, between Skye and Lewis, NW Scotland. The nearest island is 1.5 km long, Adam Nicolson has written an excellent history/natural history of this tiny archipelago - Sea Room.

Watercolour islands in a sea of rough, handmade Two Rivers watercolour paper.

Howling wind and rain, the moor half-hidden in cloud. Sketching curlews throwing shapes.

Ilkley Moor. The snow turns to rain.

Wood engraving loose ends - practice blocks, doodlings, explorations, bookmarks, etc.

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.

Afternoon walk on t'moor, just in time for the clouds to break and let the light in.

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.

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.

Wood engraving print, 75x75mm. The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney. #StandingStoneSunday #printmaking #art #prehistory

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.

On this bright and frosty morning - an Edinburgh panorama in walnut ink.

The nearest engraving I have made appropriate to a winter holiday greeting card: Schiehallion in the central Scottish Highlands. Have a good one!

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.

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.

Some of my wood engraving prints on their way this week to N. America, mainland Europe, Scotland, England and here in Ilkley.

A late afternoon walk along the River Wharfe from home. By design or benign neglect some parts of the flood plain are returning to nature, in tune with the trend on the river itself, where fallen trees are not tidied away but left to increase habitat diversity on the banks and in the water.

A visit to family in Hartlepool on the NE coast of England. Despite recent hard times its long, rich history shines through if you look for it. And there are beaches, sand dunes, rocky shores, estuaries, dene woodlands where the wildlife still clings on and even thrives...

Wherever we walk, goldcrests.

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.

Today's rapid and loose watercolour sketch of a landmark Edinburgh building - the entrance to the Neo-gothic National Portrait Gallery.

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...

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

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.

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

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.