One hundred years ago this week, the British nurse Edith Cavell, who nursed the wounded of both sides in the First World War, was shot by a German firing squad in occupied Belgium for helping Allied soldiers escape capture. To mark the centenary, the Anglican Cathedral in Norwich, where she was finally buried, commissioned a series of 14 paintings by the artist BRIAN WHELAN, who spoke of the spiritual progress of his work at a cathedral service last Sunday. For me, art is prayer. The relationship between an artist and his subject is intimate. I paint Christ on the Cross, the prodigal son embraced by his father, St Edmund martyred on a tree and, most recently, a modern woman: Edith Cavell’s spiritual life on 14 panels. I must admit, taking on the Edith commission was daunting. It re