The art of Vaughan

How often have you watched Michael Vaughan caress the ball to the boundary and wished you could frame the moment for posterity? Of England's batsmen of the past decade, no one has provided a greater artistic flourish to their game, whether that involves lacing Glenn McGrath through the covers or rocking back to hoist Brett Lee over midwicket.

All of which adds an extra layer of credibility to his latest off-field exploits. A rare winter away from the frontline of international cricket, combined with a desire to try something completely different, has led Vaughan to transfer his talents, quite literally, to canvas. The results, 61 unexpectedly striking works of art, will be displayed at the Smithfield Gallery in East London during the first week of May.

"I tell people what I'm doing and they raise an eyebrow and say, 'Oh really?'" Vaughan tells Cricinfo while promoting his exhibition at a function at Lord's. "But then they see the finished works and they say, 'S***, they're actually good!' It really takes them aback, which is great. Almost everyone who's seen them has been hugely surprised."

Vaughan is no Jack Russell, whose love of traditional painting provided an outlet for his energies throughout his England career, and whose gallery in Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire bears testament to his skills. For starters, Vaughan's paintings involve no brushstrokes whatsoever - instead the only strokes he uses are the very same ones that have powered his 82-Test career.

He calls the technique "artballing" - in essence the thwacking of a paint-covered cricket ball onto a canvas taped to the wall. It is a simple concept that produces highly original results. The idea came to him in December, shortly after the Mumbai terrorist attacks had led to the cancellation of the England Lions tour of India. At something of a loose end, he met a friend of his, Guy Brown, for a pint in their local, and the conversation came round to Martina Navratilova, who in May 2007 unveiled her own "tennising" exhibition ahead of that year's French Open.

"I've been collecting art for two or three years now, ever since Gilesy [Ashley Giles] got me interested, so we just thought, why not try it with cricket?" says Vaughan. After a bit of research, they discovered to their surprise that no one else had thought of emulating the idea, so they hired a warehouse, donned their overalls, and over the next few cricket-free months set about creating a visual interpretation of Vaughan's decade at cricket's highest level. "I'm not great at self-promotion but I think these are pretty good and they look terrific," he says. "There's a story behind every painting, which is what it's all about."

Therein lies the principal difference between Vaughan's artballing and Navratilova's tennising. While Navratilova's works tend towards the abstract, Vaughan's interpretations are underpinned by a very recognisable narrative. Cricket's stat-freaks, many of whom wouldn't know one end of a Damien Hirst formaldehyde cow from another, will have no difficulties connecting with the canvas depicting his166 against the Aussies in 2005 or his twin centuries at Lord's in 2004, for instance, which have been painstakingly recreated, shot by shot, with different colours representing the different scoring strokes he produced during each innings.

Then there are the more complex arrangements involving stencils and layering techniques, including one of Vaughan's personal favourites, entitled "Monday 12th September 2005", which commemorates the famous moment at The Oval when he held the Ashes urn aloft to end 18 years of Aussie dominance. "That one came out great," he says, "with all the confetti exploding around me. And the hundreds look terrific hanging on a great big white wall."

However, some of the most striking works (in every sense of the word) are what Vaughan terms the "single splats" - such as "The Pull", which clearly depicts the power that goes into one of his signature strokes, especially because the seam of the red ball is perfectly imprinted on the white canvas. "Don't tell anyone, but we pick the seams!" he admits. "I guess it's the first time you're legally allowed to do it, but whenever it hits the mark it makes an image that's quite strange and unique."

The sense of enjoyment that Vaughan has derived from his off-the-wall activities is tangible, and according to his business partner, hugely therapeutic. "The result is evident now in the relaxed man we see before us," Brown tells Cricinfo. "The pressures of the job were clear to everyone watching last summer, and this has been a chance for him to go away and do something completely different, and cleanse his mind. Enjoyment is central to artballing. It's all about taking a positive attitude to life."

Brown, whose background in arts marketing and graphic design has helped drive the project, has a particular reason to foster such a positive attitude. Eight years ago, at the age of 42, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and despite bouts of surgery and courses of radiotherapy, he has been unable to shake the disease.

"I'm doing okay, I'm fairly healthy," he says, "but it won't go away and it will eventually get me. I obviously have a huge interest in helping to raise money, but most importantly to raise awareness that it's not an old man's disease."

As a consequence, a percentage of the proceeds from the sales of the works, which expect to fetch anything up to £30,000, will be donated to the Prostate Cancer Charity, as well as Vaughan's own choice, the PCA Benevolent Fund. "This is a business first and foremost, but there's a good-causes angle to this as well," Vaughan says. "Personally, I'm glad to be able to give something back to cricket."

It's not a one-way street, however, because the cricket world is clearly impressed by what he's put together. Not only did MCC grant Vaughan image rights for extensive use of the Ashes urn in his works, they have adapted one of his paintings as advertising for the ICC World Twenty20. "We should be building up this tournament, it's massive," Vaughan says, wearing his business hat at a jaunty angle. "All we hear about this summer is the Ashes, but we should be celebrating all the best players in the world coming to our shores to play what is a very exciting game."

There are no limits to the ambitions of artballing, and as the carefully chosen name suggests, spin-offs into other ballgames are not out of the question. Plans are already being mooted to let Lee Westwood loose with his driver and Frank Lampard with his right boot, while Brown and Vaughan have themselves delved into the possibility of rugby images as well.

"Because of its shape, a rugby ball makes a fantastic imprint on the canvas," Brown says. "We've tried bouncing it, kicking it, diving to create tries, all sorts of techniques involving impact. It's very much a fluid art. We know in our minds what we want to create, and are thrilled by what turns up on the canvas."

"We just want to create great sporting moments from guys who hit or kick or throw balls," says Vaughan. "The country loves its sports, and art is a very fashionable topic, so I reckon it's a pretty good concept. So far, all I've done is chronicle my own career, but this summer I'm hoping Straussy lifts the Ashes in August, and I can ring him and say, 'Come on, let's do a five-piece collection of your great moments from the series.'"