Do you ever sketch in public?

"About Painting" has a very interesting poll which asks "Do you ever sketch in public?"

At the time of writing it has attracted 581 votes as follows:

• 28% sketch anywhere and everywhere
• 13% sketch - but only somewhere they won't be noticed
• 18% sketch sometimes

which means very nearly 60% of the respondents do sketch in public and more than a quarter are happy to sketch anywhere and everywhere

However:

• 16% don't sketch at all - because they're too intimidated
• 9% have thought about it - but haven't started yet
• 2% used to sketch in public - but had a bad experience and stopped

Which makes just over a quarter of respondents who don't sketch in public - and lack of confidence would appear to be the main reason for the majority of these.

Finally 6% don't sketch and 5% had 'other reasons'.

Are you surprised by any of these percentages? Is there any one result which stands out for you?

For me, there were a couple.

• Firstly, that 60% of artists and would-be artists are already sketching in public, which I personally think is an excellent result.
• Secondly, that only 2% of artists have actually had a bad experience while sketching in public. Fear of 'something awful happening' (which might be a variety of things depending on an individual's perspective) has been suggested in other places as being one of the main reasons why people don't sketch in public.

I hope that the results of this poll provides some reassurance to all those feeling intimidated about sketching in public or those who are still thinking about it - and that they all have a go sometime soon.

And thanks to Marion Boddy-Evans and the people at About Painting for hosting this very informative poll.