Art in the field

TAKE a closer look at Jonathan Pointer’s dramatic capercaillie on its lek and you may spot a red squirrel in the background. For Pointer, such details are important. He wants to tell the whole story in his work: “It is a subtle narrative – but fundamental. I won’t just do a straight portrait that doesn’t say anything about the animal’s habitat. Doing the background gives the whole story.

“A lot of my paintings mention the season in them, and that’syou have the golden shades of the ripening crop, and you also have some of the key weeds – those traditional weeds that are being lost with modern agriculture, causing partridge decline. And you have young partridges at exactly the right age for the time of year. For me, that validates the work.