# How to deal with unwanted gift of a cougar painting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668 "2012-08-16T14:11:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/41 "2012-08-16T22:18:10Z")
That’s a horrid painting. Certainly not a Bateman. I would just keep it in the closet and take it out and hang it anywhere when they come over. I paint and sometimes give out some as gifts. I always try to strongly impart with the giftee that under no circumstances should they hang it on their wall if they don’t want to, and that’s ok with me. I’d hate to be that guy. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/42 "2012-08-16T22:36:57Z")
I’m finally home where I can give this an honest evaluation away from the ears of my coworkers. [![](https://www.artincanada.com/artists/roynauffts1.jpg) ](https://www.artincanada.com/artists/roynauffts1.jpg) Bwhaaahaaaahaaaa! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/43 "2012-08-16T22:46:00Z")
If that person will be visiting soon, hang it up somewhere when they come over. It doesn’t have to be in your living room. Then take it down. Get rid of it if you want. You tried it, you’re being nice to put it up somewhere for an afternoon, and after that it’s yours and you can do whatever you want with it. That’s all assuming it’s worth being nice to this person. I wouldn’t want to encourage anyone who gave me something like that and expected my to hang it up. We live in a log cabin and people are always giving us these cheap rustic looking stupid things and my wife insists on hanging them up for a while because it’s a gift. But I don’t understand the idea of giving someone a piece of home decor. It’s a really personal thing no matter what your tastes are. I could think of a best friend or relative doing something like that, but not someone with such a casual relationship. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/44 "2012-08-17T00:02:46Z")
Insure it, then kill it with fire. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/45 "2012-08-17T00:08:49Z")
I think odd gifts are most appropriately put on display in the guest bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/46 "2012-08-17T01:08:10Z")
Hang it on the wall - closer to the ground than to the ceiling - in a heavily-trafficked part of your home. Throw a party, invite everyone you know who has small children. Serve lots of finger foods, lots of dips. Maybe rent one of those chocolate fountains? ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/47 "2012-08-17T02:46:05Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > Send it to me if you hate it that much. I love kitschy stuff like that. It would go well with the chicken-patterned wallpaper borders we are putting up right now. Yes, send it to listedmia and then you can honestly say it’s gone because “A friend of mine saw it and absolutely had to have it” (well, loose definition of friend perhaps, but close enough). ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/48 "2012-08-17T03:03:49Z")
> [@Coustralee](#): > > put it on freecycle… if anything happens say someone stole it - a guy with one of those wolf tshirts Completely implausible. A guy wearing a Three Wolf Moon wouldn’t have needed to steal it, as it is well known that the shirt makes the wearer irresistible to the opposite sex. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/49 "2012-08-17T03:15:34Z")
Loosen up a little, call it ironic. ---
**Author:** ![mengvs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@mengvs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mengvs)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/50 "2012-08-17T04:03:47Z")
**Malthus** , you had me at “hilarious hijinks” 🙂 **tapu** , Ha! I can just imagine the conversation with our new neighbours. “So, why did you move here?” “No special reason, just wanted to live somewhere with less wildlife.” **Coustralee** , thanks to your comment I need a new keyboard, because I seem to have sprayed my current one with diet Coke. Maybe I should sell off the cougar painting to raise the funds… hmmm… **TruCelt** , yes, there are plenty of local charities I like. Maybe I should find one I _don’t_ like and inflict this painting on them 😉 **John Mace** , it’s about 60 x 80 cm, so yes, it’s large enough to be utterly freaky. **SciFiSam** , that’s two keyboards that need replacing now! **Cat Whisperer** , oh boy, so what you’re saying is that the painting is so bad that even a self-professed lover of limited edition cougar prints wouldn’t want it? Oh dear :eek: Slightly off-topic, but noting what you said in parentheses about “some of you saying that that doesn’t look good to you”, do people give you flak about your art collection? I have to admit that where I live, people who like “big cat” decor are stereotyped as bogans, but it’d be a pretty judgey thing to say to someone’s face. ☹ **grude** , Excellent advice. “See this painting on my living room wall? It’s like rai-ai-ain on your wedding day. More sangria, anyone?” ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/51 "2012-08-17T04:13:20Z")
Where’s the guy who always wanted to throw things in the quarry? This seems like a wasted opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/52 "2012-08-17T04:23:25Z")
If you ever decide to get rid of it, I’ll gladly pay for the shipping to send it to me. The expression, it just kills me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/53 "2012-08-17T04:40:53Z")
> [@mengvs](#): > > \ > **Cat Whisperer** , oh boy, so what you’re saying is that the painting is so bad that even a self-professed lover of limited edition cougar prints wouldn’t want it? Oh dear :eek: Sorry. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Slightly off-topic, but noting what you said in parentheses about “some of you saying that that doesn’t look good to you”, do people give you flak about your art collection? I have to admit that where I live, people who like “big cat” decor are stereotyped as bogans, but it’d be a pretty judgey thing to say to someone’s face. :(\ They don’t, actually - I don’t really know what anyone thinks of our cougar print collection (and I don’t much care - they’re not decorating anyone else’s walls). I was just thinking that some people here might not see a difference between our cougar print and the one you were given. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/54 "2012-08-17T04:47:42Z")
He looks pissed; hang him on the wall facing the Dogs Playing Poker; maybe their next game won’t be so rowdy. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/55 "2012-08-17T05:32:04Z")
Funny, this pretty much just happened to me. With my mom. She brought me a puzzle she put together, glued it to stay in one piece, and actually matted and framed it. It’s a puzzle-print of a painting of a [pile of kittens.](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milton-Bradley-Puzzle-KITTEN-WORLD-1998-1000-PIECES-ELIZABETH-ANSELL-/130739868529) I don’t know what to do with it. Yes, I have cats. I also work in the veterinary and animal rescue industry, it’s inevitable I’ll have pets and with my hours it happens to be cats rather than dogs. The cats themselves are cat decor enough. I have a policy of _no cat themed decor in my house_. I think it’s fairly obvious looking around here, there’s absolutely no cat stuff around here besides actual cats. Fah! She did say it would be OK to donate it for auction. I’m sure someone might like it. The other thing that irks me is it’s matted badly - it’s not properly proportioned with only an inch all the way around - she just added the mat to make it fit the frame. It looks - wrong to me (a photographer, with prints and paintings in my house that are all properly/professionally matted and framed). But - [whining] My _mommy_ made it. How am I supposed to give away something my _mommy_ made me? It was a birthday gift. I’m 42. I don’t know how long I’ll have her around, plus I don’t see her more than every couple of months. So I’m resolving to maybe hang it in the kitchen, on a wall I don’t see much. Which means it would be hanging over the garbage can. Though, the garbage can is close to the same color as the mat in the frame - so it kinda would be matchy there. Argh! [/whining] ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/56 "2012-08-17T09:48:58Z")
She probably harbours an unfounded belief that you had an affair with her husband and this is best revenge she could come up with 😃 Invite her over to help you find somewhere for it. You’ll have a chance to know each other a little better, and you’ll at least have the chance to ask what exactly inspired the purchase. (_“What the fuck drugs were you on wanting to palm this monstrosity onto me?”_ would be my first choice, but I’m sure you will have your own version.) Of course there _will_ be nowhere for it. She will more easily (and happily, one hopes!) understand that though you really appreciate her kind thoughts of you, it does the print no justice having to be stored. Urge her to find a better home for it. Then there will be no bullshit between you, and you’ll never live in fear of her bringing the subject of her print up. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/57 "2012-08-17T14:45:05Z")
My M-I-L gives us paintings regularly, as she paints. They often come in huge, ornate, antiqued or gold leafed frames. My house is all 'bald furniture" style- natural color, unstained and clean lined- so the two things clash badly. My husband treasures all her paintings. I can think of only 2 that I like. (One she sent is a desert scene with a stone column or spire that looks just like a penis!) So, we hang them, move them around, and occasionally sent a set of them back because it’s ‘too crowded’ or we are ‘changing the room’. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/58 "2012-08-17T14:47:41Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > (One she sent is a desert scene with a stone column or spire that looks just like a penis!) > Sigh. I was going to post a picture of that one, but DH sent it back already. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/59 "2012-08-17T15:06:03Z")
Explain about the magic rock someone gave you that drives away cougar paintings.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668/60 "2012-08-17T17:24:15Z")
That painting belongs in the Ricky Bobby Hall of Speed! Find a huge Talladega Nights fan and they would probably love it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-unwanted-gift-of-a-cougar-painting/631668.md?page=4)