There are three of us. We meet, we draw and some of us paint. Kit includes a small stool each, mine is the kneeling weeding mat thing I use at home, another uses a sophisticated wing nut heavy folding easel. Pencils, and some pastels are in my kit, as well as a flask of coffee to prolong drawing time. The other two carry water colours.

I’ve not done a lot of this open air drawing stuff in the past but have found this rewarding in several ways. Sitting and looking as well as on site drawing is a great way to experience a day in the open air. It concentrates the mind. In some ways it’s a bit like concentrated mindfulness if that does not sound too pseudo flat white. Like man it’s kinda cool, right? Meditation with paper.

I have been the driver, so that one car is involved, not three, from Base Camp Stonehouse into the hinterlands of Gloucestershire. There seems to be no discussion on location, as the rest of the club has been generally happy with my choices. So far, there have been 2 meet-ups, and we are weather-dependent. No one wants their watercolours washed out, thank you. So far, we have also gone low: down by the River, and high, up in the near Cotswolds. Both two of my favourite locations for walks, but in this case we try, of course, to limit walking. Countryside drawing and painting is what we seem to seek, but I would not rule out a City trip to Gloucester in the colder months, so that we are close to hand-warming cups of tea venues. Who knows we might draw ‘people in a coffee shop‘.

Our last outing needed no hand warming, an almost summer day on the edge of a valley not far from a cricket pitch once visited by the Holy man himself, hence our recently coined name. I’m not sure if the other two really believed my story, but were forgiving of my ramblings. As my location choice was such a winner, made even better by one member supplying rock cakes and bird song from around 17 different kinds (according to my bird song app ), not including a red kite, which silently took a look at our works from some height. Or was he looking for a snack?

The usual plan, and there are no written rules, is to then go to a nearby cafe to get a spot of lunch and a review of what has been done. In the latest I think we were all so sated by the visual treat of just looking that all we needed was nourishment, found at some nearby gardens where resides a van serving food and drinks.

There aren’t many better ways of spending the day.