Is an original painting actually a good gift?
It is, in two situations, and it is a poor gift outside them. It works when the person has settled somewhere and has walls they have already made decisions about — a house they own, a study, an office they will keep. And it works when the occasion is large enough that permanence is the point: a wedding, a retirement, a fiftieth or sixtieth birthday, a first home.
It is the wrong gift when the person is between places, when they are renting somewhere they cannot put holes in, or when you are frankly guessing at their taste and hoping. In those cases the better move is not a smaller painting — it is bringing them here to choose. There is no online checkout on this site and nothing is dispatched automatically; every piece is an enquiry, which means a gift can just as easily start with a visit as with a purchase.
Our note on gifting original art goes through the same ground from the recipient's side, including what people quietly do with art they did not want.
How do you choose for someone else's taste?
Choose from the room they have already built, not from their personality. People describe their own taste badly, but the rug, the sofa and the kitchen tiles they chose are a decision record you can read. Take a colour that is already present and go one step deeper or one step warmer, rather than introducing a new one.
Two rules that cut the risk sharply:
- Abstract carries less risk than figurative. A landscape or a portrait states a subject the person must agree with. An abstract piece states a colour, a surface and a mood, and leaves the rest to them. This is why most of the work here suits gifting: it does not tell the recipient what to think about.
- Match the noise level of the room. A quiet, neutral interior can take a loud painting and usually should. A room already full of pattern needs the opposite — one calm field of colour with the interest in the texture, visible only up close.
If the recipient has never owned original art, that is an argument for buying, not against it. Choosing a first artwork is written for exactly that person, and it is a fair thing to send them afterwards.
What size is safe when you have not seen the wall?
Between roughly 11 by 14 and 16 by 20 inches. At that size a painting has somewhere to go in almost any home: a shelf, a hallway, a narrow strip of wall beside a door, a desk, or added to a group the person already has. It asks for no furniture to be moved, and it fits flat in a car.
Three available pieces sit in that band. Christmas (acrylic on canvas, 11 × 14 in, 2019) and Spring Thoughts (acrylic on canvas, 11 × 14 in, 2019) are both intimate upright works — the scale you look at from a metre away rather than across a room. Infinity (2024) is acrylic on board sealed with resin at 16 × 20 in, which has enough presence to hold a small wall by itself.
Larger work is for a wall you have actually stood in front of. Morning Forest in Meißen (2023) is 52 by 28 inches, framed, built in acrylic, natural dyes, resin, wax paste and diamond dust on wooden board — a piece that decides the room it enters. That is a wonderful thing to give someone whose home you know well, and a gamble if you do not. Measuring is covered properly in choosing the scale for a wall.
What comes with the painting, and what do you write on the card?
Each work is one of a kind and signed, and it leaves the gallery with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist. That document names the title, the year, the medium and the dimensions, and it is what an insurer or a future valuer will ask to see. What a certificate of authenticity actually says explains what it does and does not cover.
On the card, write the same four things: title, year, medium, artist. It sounds administrative, but it is the difference between a painting the family can identify in thirty years and an anonymous canvas in a hallway. If the piece has a story attached — Morning Forest in Meißen comes from the artist's student years travelling in eastern Germany and from the deep blue of Meissen porcelain — write one line of that too, in your own words.
One practical thing about the handover, and it matters in a Canadian winter. A painting carried in a cold car should not be unwrapped the moment it comes inside; let it reach room temperature still wrapped, so moisture condenses on the packaging rather than on the paint. The Canadian Conservation Institute's note on moving paintings sets out why. If you are planning to have it framed first, their note on framing a painting is the short version of a long subject.
What happens if they do not like it?
Ask that question before you buy rather than after, on the phone, about the specific piece — you will get a straight answer for that painting. We do not publish a blanket policy here, because every work is a one-off and what can be done depends on what else is still available at the time. Anyone who tells you otherwise about original art is describing a shop with stock, which this is not.
There are two ways to remove the risk completely. The first is to bring the recipient with you, which spoils the surprise and produces a painting they will keep. The second is to make the visit itself the gift: arrange the appointment, come together, and let them choose in front of the work. Both are common here and neither is awkward to arrange — call and say which one you are planning.
What to ask before you buy lists the other questions worth asking on that call, including condition, framing and how the piece has been stored.
How much time do you need, and can it be commissioned?
For a piece that is already finished and in the gallery, a day or two is enough: call, confirm it is still available, and arrange to collect it or have it delivered. Do not leave it to the afternoon of the occasion — the catalogue moves, and the one painting you had in mind is the one that will have gone.
A commission needs weeks, not days, and the reason is physical rather than administrative. Layered acrylic, poured resin and wax paste each need time to cure hard before the work can be moved, and rushing that stage is how a surface gets marked for good. If you want a painting made at a particular size, in agreed colours, for a date — start the conversation at least a couple of months out. The process is set out step by step on the commission a painting page and in how commissions work.
A commission is also the honest answer when the gift has to fit a known space — a specific alcove, a chimney breast, a strip of wall above a sideboard — that no ready-made canvas happens to match.
How do you know a piece is still available?
Look at the label on its own page. Work that has been sold stays on this site, marked Sold or Private Collection, because it is part of the artist's record; anything without one of those labels is available. All six pieces named on this page were available when it was written, and sold, private or available explains why sold work is left on display rather than deleted.
The catalogue does move, though, so confirm by phone before you plan around a particular painting. Prices are on request for every work, sitewide — name the piece and you will get the figure for that piece, with no obligation attached to asking.
The full listing is on the artworks page, there is more about Sergei Troshin on the about page, and questions of any kind are welcome through the contact page or on +1 (416) 919-8331. The gallery is at 473 Simonston Blvd, Markham, inside the Greater Toronto Area, open daily 9:00 to 18:00 with viewings by appointment so that somebody is there to open the door for you.
Questions people ask
What size painting is safest as a gift?
Something between roughly 11 by 14 and 16 by 20 inches. That size finds a home on almost any wall or shelf, needs no furniture moved, and travels flat in a car. Save large work for a wall you have seen yourself.
Is abstract art a safer gift than a landscape or a portrait?
Usually, yes. A figurative work states a subject the recipient has to agree with. An abstract piece offers colour, surface and mood, and leaves the meaning to them — which is why it survives being chosen by someone else.
What comes with the painting?
Every work is one of a kind and signed, and it leaves with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist, naming the title, year, medium and dimensions. Nothing here is a print, an edition or a reproduction.
Can I arrange a gallery visit as the gift instead of choosing myself?
Yes, and it is a common way to do it. Book the appointment, come together, and let the recipient choose in front of the work. Call +1 (416) 919-8331 to arrange a time — the gallery is open daily 9:00 to 18:00 by appointment.
How far in advance should I order a commissioned painting?
Allow a couple of months. Layered acrylic, resin and wax paste have to cure hard before the work can be handled or moved, and that stage cannot be shortened without risking the surface.
