***Painting live at Festival Place Basingstoke this Tuesday 28th February and Wednesday 1st March***

Follow: @LoisCordelia @SittingWithJane @JAusten200 @Basingstoke #SittingWithJane

To mark the 200th anniversary (2017) of English novelist Jane Austen's death, Hampshire Cultural Trust is putting together a year of exhibitions, walks, talks, performances and writing competitions in celebration of her unique talent and enduring appeal. Among these events is Sitting With Jane, a trail of 25 BookBenches to be located across Basingstoke, each one forming a three dimensional canvas to be painted by an artist with a design inspired by Jane Austen. The trail is presented by Wild in Art and Destination Basingstoke, in assocation with Festival Place.

Ipswich-based artist Lois Cordelia is delighted to have had a design chosen to be sponsored for inclusion in the trail. Lois' design "Look Upon Verdure" (which cannot be revealed in full until the opening of the trail in June 2017) features two quotations of Jane Austen, illustrating her love of Nature. Jane invites us to pause in our hectic modern lifestyles, sit with her on a bench and rest our eyes on nature, gardens and greenery:

“To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment.”
(Jane Austen, Mansfield Park)

Lois will paint her design onto the blank BookBench during a two day live speed-painting demonstration at Festival Place (Unit 58, opposite Laura Ashley) in Basingstoke town centre on Tuesday 28th February and Wednesday 1st March 2017, circa 10.00 am - 4.00 pm. Lois welcomes a live audience while she paints, so don't be shy: drop by, ask questions, and be inspired!

Lois previously painted a Pig design called "Pig-geswyk" for her hometown Ipswich's 2016 trail Pigs Gone Wild, which she similarly completed during a two-day live painting demo, and she is very excited to be part of another Wild in Art trail. Lois Cordelia is a prolific artist and illustrator in cut-paper, acrylics and mixed media, based at her studio in Ipswich. Lois is a speed-painter, working with bold brush-strokes and shimmering metallic colours, often live in public. Her work focuses on themes of the natural world.

Below: Lois Cordelia beside her previous Wild in Art project: Pig-geswyk, Ipswich, June 2016.