Allan T Adams
banner
allantadams.bsky.social
Allan T Adams
@allantadams.bsky.social
A semi-retired architectural illustrator, drawing buildings & old stuff to relieve stress. Illustration, art, archaeology, conservation, reading. FSA, Fellow Society of Architectural Illustrators (FSAI). No NFTs.
Pinned
An introduction as I have a number of new followers on Bluesky. I used to record historic buildings and illustrated their development and former use for a living.

I still draw old buildings & other things to promote understanding, particularly of the past & often of subjects in York, England.
A commoner mocking an aristocrat? Carved figures in the Chapter House of York Minster, completed by 1290. Were the masons having a good time making fun of their patrons?

#YorkMinster #drawing #sketchbook
#ArtShare
#ArtYear
January 6, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Rievaulx Abbey and the village of Rievaulx, near Helmsley, North Yorkshire.

#PenArt #Pen #drawing
January 5, 2026 at 8:51 PM
The shrine of St William in the undercroft of York Minster. Possibly a reused Roman sarcophagus initially formed part of a shrine in the nave of the cathedral. It now has its own dais, candles and railings.

#YorkMinster
#ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing
#ArtShare
January 5, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Allan T Adams
Will never make Great British Pottery Throwdown but air dry clay is fun.
January 4, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Mad Alice Lane, Low Petergate, York. The Snicket leads to some interesting timber framed buildings & Swinegate. The myth is poor Alice was accused of murder allegedly lived here.

#ArchitecturalIllustration
#pencil #drawing
#ArtYear
January 5, 2026 at 8:43 AM
Rievaulx Abbey near Helmsley, North Yorkshire. Drawn after a New Year's Eve walk. The first time my mum visited it, in 2019. She was 93 last week & probably couldn't manage now.

#RievaulxAbbey
#drawing #sketchbook
#ArtShare
January 4, 2026 at 4:44 PM
A long time favourite drawing of mine. A former manager encouraged me to submit work to the Royal Academy summer exhibition so I entered this. The frame still bears the chalk cross of rejection on the back but we've had it on the wall at home for many years.

#pencil #drawing
#ArtYear
January 4, 2026 at 2:11 PM
The undercroft in my recent posts are beneath the part of York Minster on the right of this drawing, under the choir. The Lady Chapel (on the left) was built in 1361-73, the Choir between 1394 and 1420.

York Minster seen from Chapter House Street.

#Pencil #Drawing
#ArtShare
January 3, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Back to the crypt for a third drawing of the Romanesque columns of York Minster and a surviving bit of a shrine to a saint.

#YorkMinster #ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing
#ArtYear
January 3, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Echoes of the past, preserved in stone. Parts of the undercroft of York Minster from the time of Archbishop Roger de Pont L'Eveque who rebuilt the eastern arm of the Minster in the 1160s-1180s only for it to be rebuilt by 1420.

#YorkMimster
#ArchitecturalIllustration
#pencil #drawing
#ArtYear
January 2, 2026 at 8:32 PM
For many 2nd January was a normal working day, including our son. We picked him up from work & while waiting for him saw a lovely sunset. The location was Boston Spa, near Wetherby, West Yorkshire. The time, 4:10 pm. Welcome 2026.
January 2, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Echoes of the past, preserved in stone. Parts of the undercroft of York Minster from the time of Archbishop Roger de Pont L'Eveque. He rebuilt the eastern arm of the Minster, after a fire in 1137, in the 1160s-1180s.

#ArchitecturalIllustration
#pencil #drawing
#ArtYear
January 2, 2026 at 12:03 PM
An Eeyore kind of day? Feeling a bit tired and deflated? Maybe staying up to let in the New Year wasn't such a good idea. Didn't stop us putting on a good spread to celebrate my mum's 93rd birthday & ALL the family turning up to join in. 🙂
January 1, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Allan T Adams
I'm super happy with my first attempt at lino printing 😍
#linoprint #makingstuff #hare
January 1, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Another memorable column from the 12th century slowly taking shape in my Moleskine sketchbook. I used the 0.3mm pencil for the incised decoration as the 0.5mm lead wasn't fine enough to show the incisions clearly. It would have been an afront to the masons of the 1160s to draw their work sloppily.
December 31, 2025 at 3:16 PM
My Top Nine of 2025 on Instagram.
A few surprises here. For example, two of them are "work in progress" snapshots. One is a figure study for a commissioned cutaway drawing and all of them are pencil or pen drawings, most of them in a #sketchbook.

#ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing
#ArtYear
December 31, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Repost with something watery.

A receding tide at Crimdon Dene, Hartlepool, County Durham.
December 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM
A labyrinth with many echoes of the past. A row of piers from the 1160s-80s undercroft of the York Minster of Archbishop Roger of Pont L'Eveque left in place to support the arcades the later choir of 1394-1420.

#YorkMinster
#ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing
#ArtShare
December 30, 2025 at 2:53 PM
York has its own Wealden hall house, in Powell's Yard, 51 Goodramgate. It's rare to find these 15th century buildings so far from the Weald of Kent and Sussex.

#ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing #watercolour
#ArtYear
December 29, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Watermill House, Benenden, Kent. A large Wealden hall house in the Weald of Kent, built between 1470 and 1510. A rare watercolour of my time in Kent studying medieval houses.

#ArchitecturalIllustration
#drawing
#ArtYear
December 29, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Christmas is a time for digging things out of the loft, like decorations and left over wrapping paper from last year. That's when I came across some snapshots of the undercroft of York Minster. I'm not sure whether to leave this as a pencil drawing or add some colour to it.

#pencil #drawing
December 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM
A chance to draw some posed figures as we made our Boxing Day visit to my sister-in-law's house. The figures are on the jambs of a fireplace in the sitting room so they can be comfortably drawn from the sofa.

#FigureDrawing
#sketchbook
#ArtShare
December 27, 2025 at 9:55 AM
A wagon in Kent. A bit worse for wear, perhaps it had too much holiday spirit.

#watercolour #drawing
#ArtShare
December 25, 2025 at 1:47 PM
A house on wheels for a shepherd to watch o'er his flocks on Romney Marsh, a long way from home at Copton Manor, Sheldwich, North Kent. An age-old practice still in use, though with more modern amenities I would hope.

#drawing
#ArtYear
December 24, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Oasthouse at Dunbury Farm, Chart Sutton, Kent. Close to a medieval farmhouse these large 19th century oast kilns and barn were used to dry hops. This one, like many others, was converted into houses soon after I got the photograph at the end of a day recording the farmhouse.

#pencil #drawing
December 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM