Jennifer Tyler

I like to use colour, light and form as an outer expression of an inner response to what I see or feel, whether it be a sense of joy, peace, mystery or celebration. In this way, the act of painting is a gift, a form of communication, as the hidden meaning within the chosen subject gradually reveals itself as I work. When I see something that ‘speaks’ to me, I know it is important for me to paint it.

For example, one evening I went for a walk through a bluebell wood and as I followed the curve in the path I was suddenly struck by the beauty of the effect of the rays of the evening sunlight shining through the trees on to the bluebells. It was so beautiful,so profoundly peaceful and calm with a sense of an undefinable presence which gave me a feeling of awe and wonder. I painted it to capture the moment visually and interiorly.

A student of mine saw the painting in my house and it made a deep impression on him. Later, at a time when he was seriously ill in hospital, I was washing the dishes and I felt three times a strong impression that I should take the painting to him. The third time I said to myself ‘Either you believe in what you are doing or you don’t’ so I took the painting round to the hospital and carried it up to the ward where he lay in a room by himself because he was so sick. I quietly opened the door. His eyes opened and he saw the painting and smiled and said ‘Oh, you’ve brought my painting. I was just thinking of it. How did you know?’ I discovered that he had a very high temperature which the medical staff could not bring down and I left the painting with him. That night he told the ward sister how much the painting meant to him and how he loved looking at the cool blues and mauves of the bluebells. The next day his temperature was down and he was able to go home to his family as he longed to do.

In every area of my work over the past 42 years, whether in psychiatry, adults with learning difficulties, education, the elderly and the terminally ill I have found colour and image to have a profoundly important role in their wellbeing.

Jennifer Tyler N.D.D A.T.D
Accredited Counsellor B.A.C.P UKRC Registered Independent Counsellor