The Willow Foundation is a charity founded by former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson to provide “special days” for seriously ill young people. They’re currently holding a fundraiser by auctioning celebrity paintings on eBay, and as you might expect, a lot of the paintings are by footballers. Some of them had help from a professional artist, while others just took up the brush and let their souls flow through it. (Frank Lampard painted his own shirt.) Here’s a gallery of the footballers’ artworks, with a couple of observations and a Genuine Celebrity Bonus.
Michael Ballack
Frank Lampard
Jamie Redknapp
Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa
Nicklas Bendtner [NOTE: Bendtnder has simply signed a children's football illustration. But at least he found one that looks like him.]
Tony Adams
Arsène Wenger [NOTE: I am seriously thinking about buying this.]
Cesc Fàbregas
Nicolas Anelka & Paulo Ferreira [How did they decide to collaborate? I would have expected Anelka to go in alone and, scowling, quickly produce some gothic street version of the Egyptian hieroglyphic for "ruler."]
Theo Walcott [Note the relative lack of conviction compared to the sun drawn by Fàbregas. The difference between an English childhood and a Spanish childhood has seldom been so poignantly expressed.]
Theo Walcott (2)
Ian Wright
Harry Redknapp [Like Nicklas Bendtner above, Harry Redknapp has chosen to autograph a Bang on the Door illustration. Also like Nicklas Bendtner, he has found one that looks a lot like Nicklas Bendtner.]
Gary Mabbutt
Barrie Mitchell [A Roy of the Rovers illustrator]
Your Genuine Celebrity Bonus
Matt Damon [NOTE: Tell us what you think of Tottenham, Matt. No, go on, tell us.]
Bid on the paintings here. Fàbregas and Wenger are looking pricey at the moment, but it’s for a good cause. And Jamie Redknapp is going for a song. . .
Read More: Going the Extra Mile
by Brian Phillips · December 5, 2008