The Willow Foundation is a national charity established in 1999 by Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 footballer Bob Wilson and his wife Megs in memory of their daughter Anna. The charity assists some of the estimated 12,500 people in the UK, aged 16–40, who are diagnosed every year with a life-threatening illness. December 2008 saw the completion of the charity's Stars on Canvas campaign where noted celebrities painted a canvas in order for it to be auctioned and raise money for the charity.

Stars on Canvas

Stars on Canvas was a high profile charity event held in December 2008 involving numerous famous celebrities, sports personalities, artists, actors and comedians. Each star was asked to create an art image on canvas that portrayed aspects of their personality and character.

Among the celebrities who donated their art were actors Sir Richard Attenborough, John Hurt

John Hurt

John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

 and Jude Law

Jude Law

David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...

, artists Peter Blake

Peter Blake (artist)

Sir Peter Thomas Blake, KBE, CBE, RDI, RA is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.-Career:...

, Karen Burt, Sara Abbott, and Jamie McCartney, comedians Michael "Atters" Attree, Steve Coogan

Steve Coogan

Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...

, Matt Lucas

Matt Lucas

Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and...

, Catherine Tate

Catherine Tate

Catherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...

 and London Mayor Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...