Welcome and thank you for spending some time viewing my work. You may have read many artists mentioning that their love for art began at a very young age. In my case, it is absolutely true! I can recall quite clearly, whilst attending primary school, an inner feeling I had to be a ‘fine artist’. As I progressed through childhood I excelled in all art related subjects, and winning a few awards along the way! Having finished my secondary education, I did what everyone else did, and that was to get a job, any job! And here’s the thing – no matter how many career paths I took, I could not escape the feeling that I was not following my ‘true path’. I now believe, without doubt, that God gave me creative skills for a purpose, and I had to honour this precious gift, by creating art. I then enrolled at Art College in order to get the qualifications needed to study for a degree. Having left Art College, I enrolled at the University of Wolverhampton in 1997. In 2001 I was awarded a BA with Honours degree in Illustration. I now had the opportunity to gain a further qualification in teaching, and a qualification in small business management, which I obtained. Later, I decided to focus all my attention towards creating art, and publishing the occasional book, nothing else.  

I consider myself fortunate in being able to create art using virtually any media. I have no preference for any specific medium, as I believe that the subject matter usually makes the choice! I tend to see an almost complete image, in my ‘mind’s eye’, and know that the end result will be pleasing. I love creating detailed art that is imaginative and thought provoking. If I can capture the attention of someone long enough for them to pause, appreciate my art, and realise the amount of physical effort it took to create it, I will have accomplished the purpose as to why an artist creates in the first instance.  My discipline is to create original art. Art that is ethereal, dynamic, and at the very least, interesting. My style, or approach to creating an image, would be to infuse classical western and eastern practices, using traditional methods of drawing and painting etc. I love working on historical themes, fantasy, natural, spiritual and mythological subjects.  If I have an idea for a project to create a series of artworks, I will dedicate all of my efforts to making the idea a reality. I also love creating abstract art using mixed media, and being ‘open minded’ as to the end result! I am comfortable working to any two dimensional size and surface required.   Around six or seven years ago, I decided to write and illustrate several book projects. The first book, ‘Beneath the Mirrored Vault: New Perspectives in Sikh Guru Portraiture’, is an historical account of the Sikh faith and the role of the painted portrait. My aim was to create a series of original watercolours in the Mughal/Deccan style of portraiture from the late sixteenth to mid eighteenth centuries. For my second book: ‘Mythologies: Stories Captured In Graphite’, I chose to create a series of detailed drawings that focused on the interplay between gods and monsters, heroes and villains. In fact, most of the artwork on my website does include the images that I used to illustrate my books. In 2023 I exhibited some of my paintings at the University of London. The following year, I exhibited three of my large drawings at the SWISSARTEXPO Zurich. In 2025 my painting ‘A Clash of Kingdoms’ was shortlisted in the annual art competition at the Victoria & Albert Museum London. I am currently compiling ideas for my third book, and generating ideas for a series of semi-abstract landscapes. I would love to collaborate on any future projects. Now that would be wonderful!   “The role of a genuine artist is to always aim for uniqueness”. Balkishan Jhumat 2025.