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Ankit Singh

@singhankit.art

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Indian artist working in egg tempera and other traditional mediums.

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It is truly remarkable and delightful that not just one, but both my works, King Arthur and The Rabbit of Canterbury, have been selected for this year’s exhibition @royalminiature I am surprised, humbled, and equally grateful to the God for opening this door and giving my work such a platform.

With this year’s theme centred on The Legend of King Arthur, I wanted to reimagine Arthur not merely as the legendary king of Camelot, but as a man shaped by the weight of his destiny. I imagined him in a moment of stillness, before the legend takes over — a figure caught between the human and the mythological, history and imagination. Rather than depicting the familiar hero of battle and conquest, I wanted to explore the quiet presence of the man behind the legend.

Founded in 1896, the Royal Miniature Society is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the centuries-old tradition of miniature art under the patronage of His Majesty King Charles III. This year’s exhibition is held in collaboration with the @cirenhistoryfest Cirencester History Festival and will be opened by @prof.markhorton Professor Mark Horton FSA, a distinguished maritime and historical archaeologist, author and television presenter.

As an Indian artist working with egg tempera, a medium that remains relatively uncommon in contemporary art practice, making my way towards my first international exhibition feels particularly meaningful. This journey has asked me to trust the process, find courage on daunting days, and follow a dream that once felt distant.

Exhibition: 24 October – 2 November 2026
The Alliston Centre, Cirencester, Cotswolds, UK.

#RoyalMiniatureSociety #MiniatureArt #KingArthur #EggTempera #TraditionalArt by @singhankit.art

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4 days ago

I am honoured to share that The Rabbit of Canterbury has been selected for the @royalminiature 2026 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers in the UK.

Founded in 1896, the Society plays an important role in preserving and celebrating the centuries-old tradition of miniature art, under the patronage of His Majesty King Charles III. To have my work recognised by a Society with such a rich artistic legacy is a privilege I am deeply grateful for.

This year, the exhibition is being held in collaboration with the @cirenhistoryfest Cirencester History Festival, a celebration of local, national and global history through talks, exhibitions and cultural events. The exhibition will be officially opened by @prof.markhorton Professor Mark Horton FSA, a distinguished archaeologist, author and television presenter, who will also present the Society’s annual awards.

This selection means more to me than I can put into words. This year, I found the courage to let go and follow a long-lost dream. I am learning that trusting yourself is sometimes the only leap you can take. You put in the work and trust the process. Some days are daunting, some are slow, and others are layered with emotions. Yet, you return to your work, one day at a time, one layer at a time.

Perhaps this is why I chose egg tempera as my medium.

Thank you, God, for giving me the strength to take this leap, and thank you to everyone who believed in me and reminded me to believe in myself.

Exhibition: 24 October – 2 November 2026
The Alliston Centre, Cirencester, UK.

#MiniatureArt #RoyalMiniatureSociety #MiniaturePainting #EggTempera #TraditionalArt by @singhankit.art

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5 days ago

Vishnu is patience.

Still working through the grisaille, and now slowly moving into the face.

The process is still very much about building in layers — something I’m very familiar with from working in egg tempera. The difference here is that I’m working with oils, so I have to let each layer dry to a certain point before I can build the next one.

It’s a slower rhythm, but I’m learning to be patient with it.

Layer by layer, slowly bringing the face, the light and the form together.

Still in progress. Still finding my way through it.

#Vishnu #Grisaille #OilPainting #FigurativeArt #PaintingProcess by @singhankit.art

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16 days ago

Vishnu is journey.

The grisaille is finally starting to come together.

The whole underpainting layer is now in place, and I’m moving into the more delicate part — slowly building the highlights and deepening the shadows.

This is where the form really starts to breathe. There’s still plenty to refine, but the structure is beginning to hold.

Still in progress. Slowly getting there.

#Vishnu #Grisaille #OilPainting #FigurativeArt #Painting taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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19 days ago

Vishnu is patience.

The grisaille is slowly starting to do what it’s supposed to do.

As the values come together, the figure is beginning to feel more solid — the form is emerging, and Vishnu is starting to look like himself.

There’s still quite a bit to do around the highlights and shadows, but we’re getting close to having the structure of the figure fully established.

Slowly, value by value.

#Vishnu #Grisaille #OilPainting #FigurativeArt #PaintingProcess taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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20 days ago

Patience and Process.

Still building the grisaille, one value at a time. The first layer of the mid-tone is down, and now I’m slowly pushing the darker areas into the shadow — deepening the form without losing the structure underneath.

It’s a slow process, but this is where the figure really starts to take shape.

#VishnuPainting #Grisaille #OilPainting #FigurativeArt #mythology taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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21 days ago

In Progress.

From the first lines of the grid to the first layers of paint. Slowly moving from the structure of the drawing, to the burnt ochre wash, and now into the grisaille — building Vishnu through values before colour enters the painting.

A lot has happened in these few stages, and there’s still a long way to go.

#VishnuPainting #Grisaille #OilPainting #PaintingProcess #IndianArt taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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23 days ago

The mid-tone.

It might look like I’m simply covering the figure, but this layer is doing a lot of the work.

The mid-tone gives me the ground from which I can build both the highlights and the shadows. Without getting this value right, everything that comes after starts to feel disconnected.

Especially in figurative work, the right mid-tone is what allows the light to actually feel like light — and the shadows to actually feel like form.

Slowly building Vishnu, value by value.

#Grisaille #Underpainting #FigurativeArt #OilPainting #Vishnu taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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23 days ago

The burnt umber wash is finally dry, which means I can now start working into the monochromatic underpainting — the grisaille.

At the same time, I’ve started another Vishnu painting, this one much larger at 5 × 3 feet.

And somewhere in the middle of all of this, I found myself thinking about how I even got here.

Back in 2020, I was out shopping with my sister for her wedding when I wandered into a little puja store filled with brass utensils, pots, objects and idols. And there he was — Vishnu, with Lakshmi.

It was such a small, ordinary moment, but somehow everything changed after that.

Since then, I feel like I’ve been living in a completely different world. My head has become so full of images, stories, ideas and possibilities that, at times, it almost feels suffocating — like all of it needs to come out somehow.

Maybe that’s why I keep coming back to Vishnu.

I want to see how far I can take this. How I change while painting him. What I am actually capable of. And how many different ways I can continue to understand and create him.

For now, I’m just following the thread and seeing where it takes me.

#LordVishnu #OilPainting #Artist #PaintingProcess #Atelier taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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23 days ago

This one is a little longer — almost seven minutes — because I wanted to talk through what is actually happening in my head while I’m beginning the grisaille. In real sense, what all gimmickry goes behind.

I talk a little about what grisaille and underpainting are, but more importantly, why I find this stage so important.

For me, the grisaille is about learning to see the painting in terms of values before getting distracted by colour. Light, shadow, form and the relationship between different parts of the image — all of it starts to become clearer when you reduce the image to its values.

It’s almost like building the architecture of the painting before worrying about how beautiful the rooms are going to look.

This is also me trying to document more of the thinking behind the work, rather than just showing the finished painting.

So, if you have seven minutes, here’s where my head is at while I begin the grisaille.

Thank you @florentfarges.arts for the incredible insight on grisaille.

#Grisaille #Underpainting #OilPainting #EggTemperaPainting #PaintingProcess ArtProcess PaintingTheory ValueStudy ValuesInPainting TraditionalArt TraditionalPainting OldMasterTechnique IndianArtist IndianArt FigurativeArt LordVishnu VishnuPainting StudioPractice InTheStudio ArtistProcess PaintingJourney ArtThinking MakingArt by @singhankit.art

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a month ago

Just before starting the first wash, I had this strange kind of palpitation.

Not because I was unsure of what to do, but because I realised I was about to paint again.

It’s been a long time.

I opened the tubes of colour a friend had gifted me back in 2018, and then came that smell — oil, linseed, turpentine.

For a second, I was somewhere else.

It’s funny how quickly a smell can bring back a version of yourself you haven’t thought about in years. I think that’s one of the strange things about being an artist. You can leave the work behind for years, but somehow the materials remember you.

And now, after all this time, I’m about to put the first wash down.

It feels nostalgic. And a little terrifying.

But mostly, it feels like coming back.

#ArtistLife #PaintingProcess #ArtProcess #BackToPainting #EggTempera EggTemperaPainting OilPainting TraditionalArt TraditionalPainting IndianArtist IndianArt StudioPractice InTheStudio PaintingJourney ArtistStudio MakingArt CreativeProcess LordVishnu VishnuPainting FigurativeArt OldMasters PaintingAgain taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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a month ago

The line work is done.

The graphite has finally been locked in with ink, and now I’m ready to move into the grisaille.

I was looking through some of my old paintings for this video and realised just how long it has actually been since I last painted properly.

I stopped painting when I was around 17 and, as I like to explain it, I was abducted by aliens shortly afterwards.

So yes, technically this is me getting back to painting after a very long break.

And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about it.

There’s something strange about returning to something you loved as a kid, but this time approaching it with a completely different understanding of materials, patience and process.

Anyway. The drawing is locked.

Time to paint.

#Vishnu #OilPainting #God #Painting #Artist IndianArt IndianArtist TraditionalArt TraditionalPainting PaintingProcess ArtProcess DrawingProcess InkDrawing FountainPen FigurativeArt SacredArt StudioPractice InTheStudio PaintingJourney ArtistLife BackToPainting OldPaintings MakingArt TraditionalTechniques taken in New Delhi by @singhankit.art

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a month ago