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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

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.

3 comments:

  1. Mostly dogs can be a problem in the country side here. In the city I always look for a possibility to have a wall in my back.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amira - glad to hear you're going to be joining to the Wet canvas class which starts on 5th June. I'm sure you'll be part of the other 60% in no time at all.

    If anybody else would like to join Amira watch out for Drawing 102 - Class 3: Sketching which will be posted in The Classroom here http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=335
    by the 5th June.

    PLEASE NOTE: This class is NOT about teaching people to draw but rather about helping people who have already studied drawing to sketch in public.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm in the 60% too, but not as frequently as I'd like to be. I'm hoping that will change soon!

    ReplyDelete

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