Art for a Home Office
Art for a home office: why the wall you face and the wall behind you on video calls need different paintings, and how to keep a lamp out of an epoxy face.
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Notes from the studio and the gallery — what the materials do, how to live with an original, and how buying a one-of-a-kind piece actually works.
Buying Art at a Local Show
Buying art at a local show: what the room does to a painting, what to note at the wall, and what a studio visit adds, told through our wall at Vivid Passion.
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Which Way Up Does It Hang?
Does an abstract painting have a right way up? How to read the top from drips, the signature, letters and the back, shown on four works from our catalogue.
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Does Resin Art Turn Yellow?
Why the clear epoxy coat on a painting can yellow, what speeds it up, where a tint shows first, and how to check a resin piece in daylight before you buy.
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What self-taught means for a buyer
What a self-taught artist is, how the term differs from naive and outsider art, and what to read on a painting's page in place of a diploma.
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Taking a painting home by car
How to transport a painting in a car: measure the opening, keep the face clear, warm the cabin first. With the size bands of a real catalogue.
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Can a painting live in a bathroom?
Can you hang a painting in a bathroom? It depends on the room and the surface. The humidity numbers, a one-week test and two real works compared.
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A painting above a fireplace
Can a painting above a fireplace stay safe? What heat, dry air and smoke do to the wall, a one-evening thermometer test, and two works compared.
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Baroque, Renaissance, DaDa
Three abstract panels named after art movements. What Baroque, the Renaissance and Dada were, what the artist took from each, and what you can see on them.
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Painters Eleven and abstract art
In 1953 a Toronto store hung abstract paintings beside furniture. Who Painters Eleven were, what they shared, and four questions to ask of any abstract work.
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Acrylic paint, explained
Acrylic paint is under 56 of our 61 works. What it is, what it lets a painter do, why it stiffens in the cold, and how a sealed and an open surface differ.
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Wall colour behind a painting
The wall surrounds a painting on all four sides and changes how light or dark it reads. What conservators say about white walls, and how to test yours.
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What direct sun actually costs
Every artwork page here ends with the same three words: no direct sun. What that line is protecting, what fades first, and how to choose the wall.
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What a small painting asks for
One in three works here has no side longer than 16 inches. What that changes about the wall you pick, the light you aim at it, and how close you stand.
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If a painting gets damaged
A knock, a scratch, a spill: what to do in the first hour, what never to clean it with, and when a damaged painting needs a conservator rather than you.
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Storing a painting at home
The attic and the basement are the two places conservation guidance says to avoid. Where an original should wait out a move, and how to stack one safely.
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How to hang a heavy painting
Weight decides the hardware, not size. What a rigid resin-faced panel needs that a small canvas does not, which fixing suits your wall, and what to ask us.
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Winter air and the wall you chose
Dry winter air, radiators and cold exterior walls: the spots in a Canadian home that are hard on an original, and why an acrylic canvas copes best.
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Two ways to be colourful
We measured colour across 48 paintings in the catalogue. One gives red 85% of the picture; another is four fifths neutral. Both get called colourful.
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What the artist note tells you
On 34 of our 61 artwork pages the artist writes about the work himself; 27 carry nothing. What that note is good for, and what it never contains.
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Hanging two or three together
Works read as a group when their measurements agree, not their colours. The sizes that repeat in this catalogue, and the three things to settle first.
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What a Title Actually Tells You
Two goldfish in German, a programming language in English, one Arabic word on two paintings: what an artwork title here proves, and what it does not.
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Art on things you use
Thirteen works here are painted onto objects that already had a job. What the finish changes, what the page leaves out, and whether you can use it.
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Art you do not understand yet
Liking a painting you cannot explain is normal. What an artwork page really tells you, what changes once it is on your wall, and the one honest check.
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What to Ask Before You Buy
The nine facts that identify an original, the three questions no artwork page answers, and which of them our own pages already print for all 61 works.
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The Dead Sea in three paintings
Three works in this catalogue return to the Dead Sea between 2021 and 2025. What the artist wrote about the place, and what each surface actually shows.
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What abstraction remembers
An abstract painting can still be about a real place, a text or a symbol. How to tell what a work is reaching for, on two originals you can see here.
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Meissen Blue and Saxon Forests
Two works here name their own colour source out loud: Meissen blue and the forests of Saxony. Where a palette comes from, and what the material decides.
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Insuring an Original You Own
Risk passes on delivery. The record an original needs before you call your insurer: the nine details Object ID asks for, and what your artwork page leaves out.
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Shipping an Original Across Canada
What actually decides the cost of shipping an original across Canada, what a cold truck does to a painting, and what to ask us before you pay for it.
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Collecting one artist over years
Two paintings in this catalogue share a title three years apart. Collecting one artist over years, read off 61 dated works: what changed, what runs out.
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Canvas, wood, board: what changes
Canvas, wood or board: what a painting is built on decides how it hangs, how it ages and what surface it can carry. Two Sans Souci originals compared.
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The Same Painting, Different Light
Why the same painting looks different at 9am and 6pm: the angle of the light, its colour, the number of sources, and what a sealed face does with them.
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Gifting Original Art, Honestly
Two originals here match on year, size and materials and are completely different gifts. What to check before gifting original art, and how buying one from the gallery works.
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Hanging art in a rental
Hanging art in a rental without a fight over the wall: what the Ontario rules actually say, which pieces need a real fixing, and 13 that need no wall.
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How to read a layered surface
Two Sans Souci originals, layered in opposite ways: one sealed under ten clear coats, one built up in raised strands — and how to read the order.
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Diamond dust, gold, and light
Diamond dust and gold are named on only a handful of Sans Souci pages. What they do to light, why photographs lose them, and how to light one at home.
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Framing an original painting
One of the sixty-one works in our catalogue arrives framed. What a frame physically does, when it earns its place, and when it covers the painting.
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Buying Original Art in Toronto
What buying original art in Toronto really involves at a small studio gallery: no checkout, prices on request, viewings by appointment, and why that helps.
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What Abstract Art Is Not
Abstract art is not random, subject-free or quick. Two Sans Souci originals show what is really there: sealed layers of line, and Meissen blue in wood grain.
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Colour in a Room: Blue, Rust, Gold
Blue, rust and gold behave differently once a painting is on the wall. Two available Sans Souci originals show why proportion beats matching.
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Choosing the Right Scale for a Wall
A photograph never tells you a painting's true footprint. Two real Sans Souci pieces, mid-scale and large, show how to measure a wall correctly before you buy.
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How Commissions Actually Work
What Sergei Troshin needs from you to start a commission, how long the layered technique actually takes, and what arrives once a piece is finished.
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Sold, Private, or Available
Sold, Private Collection, or no label at all: what the words under an artwork page actually mean, and why a piece never leaves the site once it sells.
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How to Look After an Original
The short, honest list for living with an original at home — what actually protects it, and why a resin face and a raw texture need different care.
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Original, Print, and Reproduction
Original, print and reproduction are three different objects, not one word for the same thing. The plain difference, and why it changes what you own.
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What a Certificate Actually Does
Every Sans Souci original leaves with a signed Certificate of Authenticity. Here is what it actually records, and why it matters most years after the sale.
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Where to Hang a Textured Piece
Two Sans Souci originals, one mid-scale and one four feet square, show how light, height and the wall you already own decide where texture belongs.
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Your First Original Artwork
A practical, honest guide to choosing your first original artwork — what actually matters before you commit to a piece, and what really does not.
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Natural Dye vs Paint on Wood
Two Sans Souci originals on wooden board, one built with natural dye and one with acrylic alone, and what that choice actually changes.
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What a Resin Finish Really Does
Two Sans Souci originals, one poured resin finish, and why the same coat reads differently depending on scale, support, and where a piece hangs.
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Mixed Media, Without the Jargon
What mixed media actually means in plain terms, seen up close in two Sans Souci originals that combine collage, resin, and diamond dust on one surface.
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What Texture Does to a Painting
Texture is what a photograph cannot carry. Here is what raised, layered surfaces actually do in a room, and how to judge one before you buy it.
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