THE ASHES COLLECTION

“When I set my easel up on the boundary edge for the 1st Ashes Test, the boyhood excitement and memories came ooding back. The atmosphere was already building, and it was still only 8 o’clock on the rst morning. The players hadn’t even started warming up yet! When they eventually did, I have to admit, I felt like getting my tracksuit on again and joining in, as there is nothing that gets my blood pumping more than a contest against the old enemy, nothing! As the morning went on and the spectators arrived, the atmosphere built to such a degree that you could have cut it with a chainsaw. It was electric, and I couldn’t wait for it to get started. To me, every single delivery in an Ashes Series feels like an event and is so crucial, but the rst ball in particular of an Ashes Test is always a special moment.

It’s for this reason that I set myself the challenge of painting the rst ball of every Test of an Ashes Series. It’s something I’ve not seen any other artist do before. The magic of that rst ball. The start of another ancient dual between two countries for the most prized trophy in World Cricket, that tiny urn they call ‘The Ashes’. It’s every young cricketer’s dream to play against Australia. I was lucky enough to play in two series: one in England, and one Down Under. Priceless memories. Although I still felt like jumping over the boundary rope and joining in once play had started, I had to settle for what I considered at every Test in this series, the best seat in the house to paint from. When you’re out in the middle as a player, you’re not always aware of the detail around you because of the concentration on the job at hand, but these locations gave me the perfect opportunity to get on canvas all of that crucial detail. And I can say without question that this series of pictures are the most detailed cricket paintings I have ever painted. Obsessed with getting things just right, I had to account for such details as players’ body language. The ways in which they move. How they wear their headgear. Hand positions for slips, for gully. A bowler’s follow through, a batsman’s back lift. How low does short leg crouch? Long sleeve sweater or short? Cap or sunhat? Sunglasses or not? Right down to badges, numbers and even the studs on the bowler’s boot. Thousands of spectators were painted individually, and while they are not portraits as such, if you were at any of these matches and wore a speci c colour or were situated in a certain part of the ground, you may be able to pick yourself out in the crowd. I won’t forget the two spectators at Old Tra ord who were still trying to nd their seats whilst the rst ball was going down! You can see them wandering on the steps in front of the site screen at the Old Pavilion end. If you were one of these spectators please get in touch, because you’ve been captured forever on canvas! Even if you weren’t there at the time, I do hope I can take you there now to feel part of a series which witnessed some of the greatest Ashes cricket in history.

The paintings in this collection took almost a year to complete, and I can say it’s some of the most challenging and enjoyable work of my thirty-year career as an artist, and I have loved every minute. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did painting them. Priceless!”

Ⓒ Jack Russell, 2023

Signed

Signed twice, inscribed with title and extensively inscribed, and dated 2020 twice on reverse Oil on canvas

Heroic Ashes Innings

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and ‘Ben Stokes hits the winning runs at Headingley, The Ashes, 2019’, and dated 2019 on reverse

Oil on canvas

30 x 48 inches

“Inspired by the reluctance to give in to the fading light because you want the enjoyment to continue and everyone is in denial that the light is poor. If your eyes have adjusted and you can still see the ball, if only just, play on!”

23 DISTANT BLUE

Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas 4 ½ x 8 ½ inches

24

THATCHED COTTAGES

Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 22 on reverse Oil on canvas 4 x 8 ¾ inches

25 MID SUMMER

Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas 4 x 10 inches

Worcester Sunshine

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse

Oil on canvas 6 ¾ x 6 ½ inches

27

SUNSET SKIER

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and ‘There is a ball in the sky!’, and dated 2022 on reverse

Oil on canvas 6 x 8 ¼ inches

“There is a ball in the sky!”

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas

5 ½ x 15 ½ inches

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas

7 ½ x 18 inches

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and ‘West Sussex’, and dated 2022 on reverse Oil on canvas 12 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches

BALCONY VIEW, BROADHALFPENNY DOWN

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and extensively inscribed, and dated 24.6.22 on reverse Oil on board

5 x 7 inches

“To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the rst ever rst-class cricket match, a game was arranged between an England All Stars XI, captained by Charlotte Edwards, and a Hampshire XI, captained by Mark Nicholas. I had the honour of being commissioned to paint this historic anniversary match and this is a small colour sketch I painted from the pavilion balcony that day.”

“I actually saw this gentleman keeping wicket wearing a straw hat.”

Red Gloves And Straw Hat

Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2022 on reverse Oil on canvas on board 3 ¼ x 3 ¼ inches

UMPIRE’S CALL

Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas on board 4 ¾ x 2 ½ inches

“This gentleman was stood outside the pavilion at Lord’s during a test match when I observed him having a heated discussion with his ‘misbehaving’ mobile phone.”

Modern Technology

Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on board 6 ½ x 4 ½ inches

Signed

Oil on canvas

6 ¾ x 6 ¼ inches

“Jack Blackham was Australia’s rst Test wicketkeeper playing in the Melbourne Test of 1877. He also played in the infamous Test of 1882 after which the term ‘Ashes’ was born. He kept the ball from the second innings of that match and took it back to Australia when, in 1916, he o ered it for auction to help with war charities. Collectors joined together to purchase the ball which they gave to the Museum of Victoria. In the 1930’s the ball was moved to the Melbourne Cricket Club Museum. He had the reputation of standing up to the stumps to the quickest bowlers.”

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse

Oil on canvas

7 x 6 inches

“Whenever possible Douglas Jardine preferred to wear his favourite Harlequins Cap. He even wore it when playing for England during the infamous body line series of 1932-33, much to the annoyance of the locals! The original cap is in Nigel Wray’s collection and he very kindly gave me access to paint a small colour sketch as reference for the larger painting.”

38 JARDINE

Signed and inscribed with title

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas 13

“Betty kept wicket and opened the batting in the rst ever England Women’s Test Match which was against Australia Women in Brisbane in 1934. She played a total of 10 test matches, her last test being against Australia in 1949. In 1951 she also umpired a test match. After retiring from cricket she moved to Colwall in Herefordshire where she taught cricket and mathematics at the Elms School.” 39

BETTY SNOWBALL, ENGLAND

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas on board 9 ½ x 7 ¾ inches

NUMBER SEVENTEEN HIGH STREET, WINDSOR Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2022 on reverse Oil on canvas 12 ¼ x 10 inches

41 STEPS TO KING EDWARD’S GATE, WINDSOR Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse Oil on canvas on board 16 x 5 ¼ inches

“Would be nice if these old gas lamps stayed around for a few more years. Or even better, inde nitely! So much nicer light to paint than the harsh LED lights.”

GOODWIN’S COURT, BEDFORDBURY END Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse

ONE GOODWIN’S COURT Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2023 on reverse

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2022 on reverse

“Wouldn’t be surprised if J M W Turner passed this way?”

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2022 on reverse Oil on canvas

48

STICKLE TARN, FIRST ENCOUNTER

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2020 on reverse Oil on canvas 29 x 15 ½ inches

49

Stickle Ghyll

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2021 on reverse Oil on canvas 15 ½ x 21 ¾ inches

“This is the location that was the inspiration for the dangerous Grimpen Mire mentioned in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. He spent time touring Dartmoor with his friend Fletcher Robinson researching his masterpiece. He would have stood on this spot looking across the moor, as I did to try and capture the desolate atmosphere with it’s silent, rolling mist.

It’s so remote you don’t see anybody for days on end. You can’t even get a mobile phone signal here. Peaceful? Very much so. Dangerous? Most de nitely!”

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and ‘Opposite Whiteworks, near Princetown on Dartmoor. This is the moor that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited which gave him the location for “The Grimpen Mire” in his famous novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles”’, and dated 2021 on reverse

Oil on canvas

51 MELTING SNOW Signed Signed, inscribed with title and ‘Wrekin Mountain Woods, Shropshire’, and dated 2022 on reverse Oil on canvas 10 x 12 inches

52 AUTUMN PLAYGROUND Signed Signed, inscribed with title and dated 2022 on reverse Oil on canvas 10 x 12 inches

“In the last couple of years I’ve started painting more ‘still life’ and I’ve become obsessed with the challenge of painting Sta ordshire Figures. These pieces are from the collection of Dr James Hull.”

56

STILL LIFE: VICTORIAN STAFFORDSHIRE FIGURE –

SAM WELLER ON MY PAINTING TABLE

Signed

Signed twice, inscribed with title and ‘Sam Weller Sta ordshire gure from Alan Sturrock collection, President of the Sta ordshire Figure Association. Sam Weller Character from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens’, and dated 2022 on reverse

Oil on canvas

14 ¾ x 12 inches

57

STILL LIFE: LILLYWHITE, VICTORIAN STAFFORDSHIRE

FIGURE SPILL VASE

Signed

Signed, inscribed with title and ‘Dr James Hull Collection’, and dated 2021 on reverse

Oil on canvas

14 x 11 inches