This Saskatchewan artist’s painting earned a spot at Windsor Castle

Bhupinder Singh’s watercolor of a Saskatchewan grain elevator is one of 25 paintings displayed at the Royal Office. Damian Smith has the story.

It’s not often that an artist’s work gets to be displayed in the home of the Royal Family.

Bhupinder Singh now holds that honour, after his painting “Fillmore After Rain” was selected as part of the “Royal Collection Project,” an initiative that sees 25 watercolour works be displayed at the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

Singh’s work depicts an old, wooden grain elevator in the community of Fillmore, Sask.

“Slowly with the modernization they’ve been phasing out, they’re not being taken care of or they’re not being preserved in some way, due to a lot of reasons,” Singh said, referring to the once common rural landmarks.

“So I wanted to somehow try to capture the last phase of them before they disappear.”

Singh was born and raised in India but largely revolves his paintings around prairie themes and landscapes. He says that living in the prairies can make one “introverted.”

“The prairies will allow you to connect with your own self, and I think that’s a very powerful thing as an artist,” he said. “I try to capture prairies as a vast expanse rather than something flashier and more modern looking. I think that’s more of the spiritual connectivity with the land and the people is what makes me really motivated.”

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“Fillmore After Rain” is one of many of Singh’s works depicting grain elevators, as a way to highlight Saskatchewan’s history.

Singh is also an art teacher for adults. However, he said he didn’t take his passion very seriously up until a decade ago.

Though he won awards as a child in school in India, his wife gave him the extra urge to use that talent in a grander scheme.

“I would not have actually pursued art as a career. It was pretty much her decision that I should actually pursue it more seriously,” he said.

Tonya Singh is an artist herself, but focuses more on sewing and cross stitching.

Before Bhupinder became a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, she pushed him to put his talent to good use.

“We had many conversations trying to encourage him. He is definitely one of the most talented people I have ever met,” she said. “As soon as I saw his work, I’m like, ‘Yes, you need to do this professionally and yup, keep going at it and don’t stop.’”

“I think I really wanted to focus and dive into it, trying to be more creative and find my own path,” he said. “Before that, it was more casual and whatever floated my imagination. All that training actually helped me to be able to express myself more clearly.”

When Singh started to delve into the watercolour art scene more seriously in the mid 2010’s, he knew that he had to be more competitive to stand out. However, his expectations remained lower.

“I did not start out thinking I’ll be winning awards or anything like that, it was never a goal for me,” he said.

Meeting with CTV News at the Art Gallery of Regina, he pulled out around 25 paintings, which are just a few that left his home office. Some paintings take a day; some are carefully drawn in a sketchbook, then finished a year later.

“They [the paintings] are not conceived overnight or just in a few minutes,” he said. “Many of these paintings can take years to express. Just like any creative feeling, it has a lot of deep thought processes and inspiration.”

Singh has won a variety of awards, but having a piece in a royal residence is definitely up there for career accomplishments.

For now, Singh is continuing to pass on his skills through teaching, with his students ranging from beginners to the more experienced.

“We try to encourage every student or budding artist to express, genuinely, what they want to express, not necessarily what is more popular,” he said.

“I think that’s very empowering for a lot of people.”

In the past, as a part of the Royal Collection Project, paintings were given to the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

In 1985, 60 paintings were given, then 15 in 2000. As part of the quarter-century celebration in 2025, 25 paintings were given last year.