ARTIST Ali Thistlethwaite’s second exhibition at Bradford Cathedral will launched on Ash Wednesday.

‘Encounters with Jesus’, the cathedral’s exhibition for Lent, Easter and Pentecost, runs until Friday, June 12.

It will look at how secret transactions with God in prayer have life-changing consequences within worship and prayer and how sorrow can be turned to joy, worry to peace

Alison Thistlethwaite’s paintings are not just depictions, or recollections, of encounters with God through the Spirit. They are themselves painted in encounter with God, much like the prayers of any one but in physical form.

Explaining how she works, she said: "It’s kind of personal, but it's also about how God's word speaks to us.

“The aspect of moving forward has always been something important and so I guess walking with Jesus, and encounters with Jesus, spark my imagination of events and places as I read. I picture myself in some of the Bible stories with Jesus speaking to me. That can all go into a painting, and I start off the process, which then develops in unexpected ways.

"I hope people will be really cheered up."