Seven first-ballers for Jack Russell as he paints the 2019 Ashes

Wicketkeeper-turned-artist tells HUW TURBERVILL how he came to capture all of the opening moments of the 2019 Ashes

Painting the first ball of an Ashes Test can be perilous – think Steve Harmison at the Gabba in 2006/07 – but that was the task Jack Russell set himself in the summer of 2019.

In fact five paintings, one for each Test, actually became seven, as he decided midway through to also do one for the women’s Test at Taunton, and Ben Stokes hitting the winning runs in that Headingley thriller.

“The idea of painting an entire Ashes series came about thanks to Mark Arthur, the chief executive at Yorkshire,” the Gloucestershire and England wicketkeeping legend, 57, told The Cricketer. “He commissioned me to paint their new Emerald Stand at Headingley to commemorate the opening of it and suggested I focus on the Ashes Test.

“Then it dawned on me that I’d never painted a whole Ashes series before. I’d done a lot during the epic 2005 series, capturing many of the key moments including that amazing day at the The Oval when we won the urn back for the first time in 16 years – which was like taking a monkey off my back because I was in the team in 1989 that lost them!

^{The first ball at Old Trafford}

“To add extra difficulty I decided to paint the first ball of every Test to make each picture in the collection a specific moment in time. The first ball of any Test is special but the first ball of an Ashes Test is on another level. It’s a moment in history when another epic battle with the old foe begins. As far as I know no other artist had ever done this… I’ve certainly never seen it done.

“Capturing the first ball added to the challenge of accuracy because a moment in time has to show the correct weather, light, atmosphere, fielding positions, body language, even where spectators were, hence the two at Old Trafford in front of the sightscreen in front of the old pavilion who were trying to find their seats.

“You can’t have too large a canvas at the grounds because of health and safety and so on and getting in people’s way, so I painted a smaller colour note on site and used the reference from that to paint the larger finished pieces. The original paintings are quite large which allows for extra detail, even down to the studs on the bowlers’ boots! (see Stuart Broad at Old Trafford).

“I have to say a big thank you to all the counties and the ECB for giving me the best seat in the house at every Test. I was right on the boundary rope for the first at Edgbaston, on the groundsman’s side of the ground and the atmosphere was so amazing that when the game started I had this great urge to get involved in the action!

“That’s what the importance of the Ashes does to you. It brought back all those memories of when I was a player having been lucky enough to have played in two Ashes series. This adds to the energy when painting, so they are pictures painted with a lot of emotion and with all the detail needed.

“The first day of the second Test at Lord’s was a washout which meant starting on the second day, which happened to be the first day ever of the Ruth Strauss Foundation Day, which was brilliant to witness and in terms of detail there is a lot of red in the crowd and each player has a red number instead of their usual dark blue or green. It was wonderful to see the Strauss boys ring the pavilion bell to announce the start of play – it was an emotional day all round.

“Initially I was just going to just do the five Tests but in between the Women’s Ashes was on at Taunton so I shot down there last minute and painted my first women’s match, which was another landmark painting.

^{Russell at work and Stuart Broad mid-delivery}

“Then Ben Stokes did what Ben Stokes does at Headingley so I just had to paint him hitting the winning runs in what is without question one of the greatest Ashes wins of all time, if not the greatest. It was my first painting of the Carnegie Pavilion which was a gigantic challenge in its own right as every piece of glass has to be spot on, otherwise it looks like there’s a broken window! It was half in shadow at that time of day as well, which added to the atmosphere and contrast in colours in the low-afternoon light.

“So a collection of five historic moments became seven, which is my favourite number and my number when playing, so I think it was written in the stars (not that I believe in the stars) that someone had to capture it all on canvas.

“It took me nearly a year to complete the collection to get them right. These are, without question, the most detailed cricket paintings I have completed and are a landmark collection in my professional career as a painter, which is now more than 30 years long – longer than I was a professional cricketer!

“Being a professional painter instead of professional cricketer is in some ways no different really, especially in terms of commitment and dedication. To paint the best pictures you have to be 100 per cent in – there are no short cuts.

“Because people want to hang my works on their walls I am lucky that I now paint all day, every day. It consumes me like keeping wicket or scoring runs: it takes over your life and it has to be that way for me if I want to paint the best pictures I can.

“People ask me if I miss playing and the answer is no. I would still play if physically I could but my body can’t do it. Obviously in my head I’m still 29 and think I can do it and would love to do it still, but I have accepted that won’t happen again, so I don’t miss playing because the painting fills the mental gap for me: it gives me something to dedicate my attention to.

“My problem is that I can’t be half in. Painting is similar to playing cricket: you never crack it. You never have the perfect match and you never paint the perfect picture. There is always something new to discover every single day and, like cricket, no two days are ever the same so I never get bored.

“I know I can never play in an Ashes series again but getting so close to the action and painting it is the next best thing. It was a privilege.”

To view the full collection go to www.jackrussell.co.uk. For your free Ashes Collection Brochure please email jack@jackrussell.co.uk or call 01454 329583