Ayres, Gillian (1930- )

English painter. Her free, abstract style, with its emphasis on colour and the active properties of paint, was influenced by the work of US painter Jackson Pollock. During the 1980s she introduced gold into her pictures and turned from acrylics to oils, the titles of her paintings expressing the essential literary Britishness of her inspiration - Green Grow the Rushes, O! (1990), May Day Games (1990), and Go and Catch a Falling Star (1990).

Selected as the sole artist to represent Britain at the Indian Triennial 1991 she painted Indian Summer; A Midsummer Night and A Great While Ago The World Began, among other works.

Ayres was born in Barnes, London, and trained at Camberwell School of Art, first exhibiting in 1952. In 1957 she was commissioned to paint a series of 80 panels (since destroyed by fire) for South Hampstead School, London. Her exhibitons include Glasgow's Great British Art Show in 1990.