February 3

Saint Margaret of England

Saint Margaret of England, O.Cist., (died 1192) was born in Hungary to an Englishwoman who was related to St. Thomas Beckett, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury.

When she was grown, Margaret took her mother with her on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and they then settled in Bethlehem, where they lived austere lives of penance. Her mother died there in the Holy Land. After that Margaret made pilgrimages to the Virgin of Montserrat in Spain, and then to Our Lady of Le Puy in Le Puy-en-Velay, in the Auvergne region of France.

She then became a Cistercian nun at the Abbey of Sauvebénite near Le Puy, where she died. Miracles were reported at her tomb and it became a pilgrimage site. Margaret's feast day is observed on 3 February.

Gillian Ayres

Gillian Ayres, CBE (born 3 February 1930) is an English painter.

Early life and career. Ayres was born on 3 February 1930 in Barnes, London, the youngest of three sisters.

Her first solo exhibition was held at Gallery One, London in 1956. Ayres' early works are typically made with thin vinyl paint in a limited number of colours arranged in relatively simple forms, but later works in oil paint are more exuberant and very colourful, with a thick impasto being used. The titles of her paintings, such as Anthony and Cleopatra (1982) and A Midsummer Night (1990), are usually given after the painting is completed and do not directly describe the content of the painting, but rather are intended to resonate with the general mood of the work.

Ayres was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1989. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1986, and in 1991 became a Royal Academician. She later temporarily resigned from the Academy, following the broadcast of a BBC Omnibus television documentary about the preparations for the controversial Sensation exhibition hosted by the Academy in 1997 show-casing the Young British Artists.The documentary, according to Ayres, presented an unfair view of the older members of the Academy. Ayres also objected to the inclusion of Marcus Harvey's portrait of the killer Myra Hindley in the exhibition.She is represented by the Alan Cristea Gallery, London.