Trained at the Central
School of Art, she married Michael Rothenstein in 1938 and lived in Great
Bardfield for fourteen years from 1941, bringing up two children Julian and
Anne. In 1959 she married Eric Ayers, a designer and a director of Editions
Alecto, and moved to
London,
where in the 1960s she re-commenced painting in oils. She taught for many years
on courses at the Women's Institute's
DenmanCollege
Olive in her Garden
Oil
Ayers has caught Olive Cook's likeness. They were friends over many years, dating back to the days when Ayers was living in Bardfield and OLive Cook and her husband Edwin Smith were regular visitors.
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Portrait of Kitty Wilson
Oil
1945
Kitty was matron of a Dr Barnado's home, Bardfield Hall, Great Bardfield, in charge of 80 babies, and here she met and married Stanley Wilson in 1947. The artists in Great Bardfield were much involved at festive times in the life of the Home. 1983 Kitty was on "This is your Life" and was hailed as "Mother in a Million" . Kitty died aged 87 on the 5th January 1991.
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The Arrival
Oil
1993
Ayers had a twin sister, who also trained at the Central School, and together they made a glamorous pair in artistic circles in London. Peggy's death in 1971 was a particular blow, and an oft-recurring presence in the artist's work is a secondary (twin) presence, seen here (and hinted at in the title), while her other long-standing interest in clothes and scarves is given greater prominence.
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The White Nightdress
Oil
1994
Ayers always works in oils, mostly from her imagination and memories, although portraiture has been an abiding interest. This work, of her daughter while pregnant, combines a hint of portraiture with a remembered moment.
