Art in the field

Whether it is painting or sculpture, authenticity is key for wildlife artist Terence Lambert.

- Janet Menzies

IF CAST AWAY on a desert island, wildlife artist Terence Lambert would definitely request to take his paints: “It would have to be beautiful watercolour paper and a set of pencils.” But he wouldn't be allowed to take them, because to him they are not a luxury. “That is the basic thing of what I do. Everything starts with a drawing,” he says.

The end product isn’t a luxury either but a necessity in illuminating our understanding of the natural world Lambert depicts. He is based in Llanbrynmair, half an hour or so from the heart of Snowdonia. “When we first came here we had a house on the side of a mountain and we heard the curlew calling. I told my wife, ‘This is where we are going to live,’” he remembers.

“But the curlew are gone now. Topographically we have the most beautiful landscape and we are so privileged to live here. Fifty years ago it was a grouse moor. When we moved in, the local poacher met us with a grin and a sack full of salmon and game that he tipped out on the lawn. In those days there were golden plover and all the other wonderful moorland birds,” Lambert says. “Then I found myself painting a portrait of the last black grouse on the moor, an old cock bird with a lot of character.”