Is this a strange/offencive gift?

Ask them if you could paint the cat. If they say yes, then do it. Otherwise it’s just weird. Definitely no to making it an anniversary gift.

I would tell them about the painting and ask them if they wanted it. I don't think you should give it as an engagement present. It wouldn't be suitable as the cat has died.

That’s completely different to someone’s PT giving them a painting of their dead cat as an engagement gift 🤣

My son's cat fell out of a window and died. My daughter (his sis) painted and framed a small painting (from a photo she had of the cat) My son and his wife loved it. So I think it's a very nice thing to give themBUTI would give it separately, not as part of an engagement gift.

Shame you couldn’t have had it stuffed for them.

i think it would have been weird and possibly a little upsetting.

Honestly, I wouldn't.

After my dog died I got TWO portraits of him gifted to me. Both gifters had decided to commision them without my knowledge.

I wasn't that keen on either. They were decent enough pictures but they didn't have happy connotations to me, they weren't things I connected to him in life. If I was going to remember him I'd much rather have had a small photo on the dresser of an actual memory rather than these big things on my wall. They didn't really fit in right anywhere I tried to put them.

Eventually they went to the landfill with a fair amount of guilt.

Sorry but absolutely not. Amateur artists should not be gifting their paintings to anyone unless you know that person very very well and they will love whatever you give them. Amateur paintings are always cringy and "pick-me", no matter how great you feel it turned out. The subtext is that you want other people to admire your secret talent or expect compliments on your work which is something nobody wants to give to a hobbyist. If the subject is neutral and the execution genuinely great, then it would be acceptable. But gifting someone a painting of an extremely emotional subject is hugely embarrassing for all.

There is also no intrinsic value of anything painted by a hobby artist. It's comparable to a child gifting a school drawing to their mum. The fact you spent hours painting something that is emotional to them, and then gifted them the painting expecting them to shower you with compliments and put it up somewhere in their house like a child to a parents is so awkward to contemplate.

Most people don't mind receiving gifts from professional artists. It's a fun token of generosity, such as a dinner party created by a chef or a performance by musician at a special private event. Even so, professional artists will make sure the piece is usually a sketch, a watercolour speedpaint or something that clearly took less than 1-2 hours to make. A full colour painting implies hours and hours working on a subject matter which is a strangely intimate process. It's weird, obsessive and stalkerish to do that with a pet from someone you don't know intimately well.

Not really

I used to paint pet portraits professionally, and many of the animals had died. FRequently when presented with their painting it made them very tearful, so you may want to consider this.

What if they hate it? Will they feel that they have to put it on the wall? If they do, then you're deciding their decor. I don't think giving art is a good idea.

I’m not sure as it depends on your relationship and also what they are like.
Personally I would find it a bit odd, but I am not a cat or even a pet kind of person so I’ve never experienced or been able to fully understand the connection people have with their pets.

I would definitely ask first. People can vary greatly. My friend commissioned a painting of her dog after she died. However after our dog died my aunt sent my Dad a birthday card with a picture of a similar dog. He went mad saying how insensitive it was and he didn't need the reminder on his birthday.

I mean, do you need to give them anything? Are engagement presents even a thing? Especially as they’re clients of yours, rather than close friends or immediate family, and it’s not that this couple just got married, only engaged?

I certainly don’t think you’re being stingy. I’d just give them a card, but I don’t think anything is needed other than congratulations.

I lost 2 cats 4 weeks apart. My mom bless her went & got the picture I used as a missing poster of one of the cats blown up & put on a canvas. It is Still in the box I cannot look at it. I never found his body I was devastated, was told he had died we think bin men picked him up even though they are meant to keep for 7 days, he was gone even the dog warden looked for him. RIP Archie 22yrs & Jack7ish yrs

I think I’d go with the card, and if they gush over it, offer them the original.

You'd be touched by something you thought was hideous, cheap, the opposite of your taste? The reality is you do not know if they will like your picture. They might truly loathe it. Even if you are the new Rembrandt, they might not like it. Art is incredibly subjective.

Definitely not framed, you can give it to them casually if you like.

Printed off as a card as someone suggested is a nice idea actually, because cards only have to stay up for a few weeks and can be tucked way in a box or binned later. And then if they do like it they can in fact keep it.

But for the love of God, unless you are poor and in the habit of hand making gifts for people and everyone knows this about you, please do NOT give your hand made macrame coasters to someone as an engagement gift (yes, hand made macrame coasters and your framed amateur picture is a good comparison).

Not an engagement gift, surely?

Oh my God please do NOT DO THIS😂what a cheapskate gift to give someone. Look at me, I'm so coooolllll 😅Just be normal and get them a normal engagement present.

If you really must inflict your amateur production on them do so casually, hey I made this I thought you might like it. Do NOT frame it ffs as if you expect them to have to hang it.

Don't ever try to choose something that they will be forced by way of politeness to hang up on a wall or look at every day if they do not want to, it's such bad manners.

I must be weird because I don't think it's weird at all to give people art that you've made yourself. I think it's great.

Also, everyone I know loves their cats and dogs dearly and would be pleased and happy to get a portrait of a beloved creature who had died. I think it would be a lovely engagement present.

I’d love that. It’s a picture of something they loved. It’s a sweet and original gift- engagement or otherwise. I bet they’ll love it.

"There were three of us in this marriage. Me, my fiancé, and an undead cat."

I would feel cursed by such an object!

I appreciate the good intention, but such a portrait ill suits a celebration of a new phase of life.

I was given a surprise portrait of my cats, I was delighted.

I’d find it really weird if my pt gave me a painting of my dead cat for my engagement. How did you decide to paint that cat in the first place? Someone mentioned overinvestment and I’d agree.

You really don’t have to be in any way an ‘oddball’ to not be enthused at receiving a framed, ‘very amateur’ portrait of your deceased pet as a present from your personal trainer, who comes to your house weekly and will notice whether it’s not on display. Especially when even its painter admits the likeness isn’t up to much.