14 in wideSpring Thoughts, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 11 × 14 in
Most of the canvas stays a pale green, with small red and brown marks scattered over it. No resin coat is named, so there is no glossy face to plan the lighting around.
Your first original painting: what to check, ask and expect
You don’t need to know about art to buy a painting. You need a wall, a tape measure and one phone call. After six small originals to start with, this page goes through them in that order.
Every work shown here is an original by Sergei Troshin. You can see them in Markham, just north of Toronto.
Call +1 (416) 919-8331Six originals that suit a first purchase
They are in order of size, from 11 × 14 in to 24 × 24 in. Paintings this small fit a hallway, an alcove or the wall above a chest of drawers. The two canvases are light. Ask us what the four boards weigh before you choose a fixing. All six were unsold when this page was written, and a sold work is marked on its own page.
14 in wide
14 in wideAutumn Hysteria, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 11 × 14 in
The same size and the same paint as Spring Thoughts, in rust and ochre with turquoise and yellow flicks. Put the two side by side to see how far colour alone changes a small work.
16 in wideTransience, 2020
Acrylic on wooden board, sealed with resin, 12 × 16 in
Fine line work under clear poured coats. The artist’s note on it speaks of “up to ten floating layers” of epoxy.
20 in wideInfinity, 2024
Acrylic on board, sealed with resin, 16 × 20 in
The most recent of the six. A rigid board with a hard, glossy face, so it reflects a window placed opposite it.
20 in wideDaDa 2020
Acrylic and resin on fiberboard, 20 × 16 in
A maze of line under a poured coat. In the artist’s words: “The entire labyrinth of lines was drawn by hand.”
24 in wideWhite Night, 2020
Acrylic and resin on fiberboard, 24 × 24 in
The largest here, and a square. A square is the easy shape for a wall that has no obvious centre.
Four things to check at home before you phone
First purchases rarely go wrong on taste. They go wrong on the wall, and each of these takes a few minutes.
| Check | How | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| The size | Tape the painting’s outline on the wall and leave it there for a day. | A 24 × 24 in square looks larger on a narrow wall than the numbers suggest. Leave about the painting’s own width of bare wall on each side. More on scale. |
| The light | Note where the window is and when the sun reaches that wall. | Light from the side shows a built-up surface. A window straight opposite puts its own reflection on a resin face. |
| The wall | Find out if it is drywall, plaster or concrete, and whether you rent. | The fixing depends on it. A board sealed with resin weighs more than a canvas of the same size, so ask us the weight. |
| The way in | Measure the lift, the stairwell and the front door. | It hardly matters for the six works above. It matters a great deal once you look at a four-foot panel. |
How to ask a price that is not listed
Each painting exists once and this site has no checkout, so every price is on request.
Phone us, or use the form headed “Ask about this piece” on the painting’s own page, and give the title. The answer is the price and whether the work is still available. Asking does not commit you to buying.
Before you call
- Decide the most you want to spend, and say it on the call if you like.
- Shipping is quoted for each work and each address, so ask about it in the same call if you live outside the Toronto area.
- The number is +1 (416) 919-8331.
From the first call to the wall
- 1
You call or write
Name the painting. You hear the price and whether it is still available.
- 2
You see it
Viewings are by appointment at 473 Simonston Blvd, Markham, daily between 9:00 and 18:00. A photograph flattens depth and reflection, so come if you can. What a viewing is like.
- 3
You decide
There is no account to open and no online checkout. The sale is agreed with the gallery directly.
- 4
You get the paperwork
The work is signed and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist. Keep the certificate with a photograph of the front and back of the painting.
- 5
It reaches you
Collect it in Markham, or have it packed and shipped to your address in Canada or abroad. How an original travels across Canada.
Original, print or reproduction: know which one you are buying
Online, one image is often sold three ways at once. The three are different objects.
- An original
- The object the artist worked on. There is one of it. Every work in our catalogue is an original.
- A fine-art print
- Also made by hand, but as a numbered impression, so several exist. We sell none.
- A reproduction
- A photograph of a painting, printed by machine. Its surface is flat, however textured the painting was.
The Certificate of Authenticity records which object this is and that the artist made it. It is not a valuation. What the certificate says and how to tell the three apart from a listing go further.
Questions before a first purchase
I have never bought art before. Where do I start?
With the painting you keep going back to and the wall you have. Tape its size on the wall for a day, note where the light comes from, then call and ask the price. None of that commits you to anything.
Do I need to know about art to visit?
No. Say which painting you liked on the site and the visit starts from there. Viewings are by appointment, daily between 9:00 and 18:00.
How do I know it is an original and not a print?
Nothing in the catalogue is a print or a reproduction. Each work was made by hand, exists once and is signed, and it comes with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist. The artist’s page tells how he came to painting.
What size should a first painting be?
One the wall can take with room to spare: about the painting’s own width of bare wall on each side. The six works on this page run from 11 by 14 inches to 24 by 24 inches.
What if nothing is the right size or colour?
A painting can be made for your wall. Commissions are welcome, and the size of the wall is the place to start. How a commission works, or write through the contact page.
More originals, none wider than 24 inches
Call about your first painting
Phone +1 (416) 919-8331 and name any painting on this page. Ask what it costs, whether it is still available and what it weighs. Viewings are by appointment at 473 Simonston Blvd, Markham, daily between 9:00 and 18:00.