Being able to meet with others, chat, and sketch, are all pleasures that we have come to appreciate more since the lockdowns. The ‘Urban Sketchers Gloucestershire’ group has grown steadily over the last year, and our meetups are lively, friendly events to look forward to. Last week we were in Painswick, a beautiful village with an overload of fascinating views and buildings to challenge our sketching abilities!
The month before we met up at The Boho Bakery, in King’s Stanley – a great meeting place in yet another interesting Gloucestershire village with lots of sketching attractions (as well as great coffee and cheese scones!)
It might seem that we have managed to recreate a world before the pandemic, enjoying all the benefits that a group can bring – companionship, a sense of shared purpose, support, conversation, community. In our hearts, though, we know that the world has changed. A global pandemic, and now war in Europe, exposes the fragility of our securities and institutions. We talk of Ukraine and Covid, but only in passing; there is a shared acknowledgment of the anguish and distress, as well as an appreciation of our own