A 2023 Montage: 12 Photos Per Month

A 2023 Montage: 12 Photos Per Month

Hello. It's *ahem*, been a while. Happy New Year(s)!

The above image is a chronological montage of photos I took in 2023. The top row is January, the next is February and so on.

I've made these images at the start of January every year* going back to 2008. Previous entries can be found under the #montage tag.

2023 then? Bitty. Spotty. Sloppy. Wishy and/or washy. Those are the words that come to mind. I may or may not go into the reasons (I may or may not actually know the reasons) but, for now, I'm feeling fairly motivated to correct course.

Noteworthy things:

• I turned 40. Weird.
• Thea turned 1 (and is now closing in on 2)! It very much feels like we have 4 people in the house now, rather than 3 + a baby.
• I made a rollerblading video called Content.
• I'm so invested in rollerblading that I attended a massive event in Eindhoven with a bunch of other skaterdads. We even made a little edit.
• I failed at all of my modest reading, writing and drawing goals for the year.

Anyway. If you read this... hello! It's nice to see you. As always, I intend to write here more often in the coming year.

Always forwards, never backwards x

* I missed 2022 for no particular reason and I plan on retroactively fixing it.

WIWT 2022 | 01

While I don't strictly set any New Year's resolutions, one of my goals for 2022 is to draw more. That's an odd goal for a proffessional illustrator but one of the weird quirks of the game is that drawing very much becomes work and work is something that's easy to put off. And I'm very good at putting things off.

I'd like to change that. Drawing more ONLY leads to good things.

This is a drawing of what I'm wearing today. I do these WIWT drawings from time-to-time after finding Gemma Correll's brillso WIWT Flickr group many moons ago.

A 2021 Montage: 12 Photos Per Month

Hiya.

The above image is a chronological montage of photos I took in 2021. The top row is January, the next is February and so on. There's a super-massive version on my Flickr.

I make these montages every New Year. This is the 14th. The others live under the #montage tag. 14 years is a long time, pals.

Like Owen said on the latest Infinite Review Christmas Special, 2021 was essentially the E4+1 version of 2020. 2020+1. In some ways I feel like I wrote my last New Year's post yesterday. In other ways I feel like I wrote my last New Year's post maybe 10-20 years ago.

Everything's the same. Everything's different.

Noteworthy-ish things:

• We're having another baby! Due in March. Alex is doing great, Beth is excited / curious. David is excited / curious.

• I made a rollerblading video. This is, honestly, one of my proudest non-child achievements. It may be a midlife crisis, but it's a midlife crisis that has left me fitter than I've been in a decade, hasn't cost a fortune and has made me some new pals. So shut up.

• Beth turned 4! She's the funniest, weirdest, most curious little person I know. Sorry, other kids, she's the best kid.

• I got a new studio! I moved last month. It's a different room in the same building with all the same stuff in it, but it's prettier and I've put a little more thought into how it works. Feels like a fresh start.

Beyond that, life has been good, work has been good. Everyone I know is doing fine considering the GLOBAL PANDEMIC that has cooked for NEARLY 2 YEARS.

My plans for 2022 are, as usual, to do more... stuff. I always get a bit of pep in my step in January and I can hopefully channel it into some new and interesting things. Fitness stuff dominated 2021. I'm pencilling in some more creative, um, stuff for 2022.

The best place to keep up with what I'm doing is on Instagram. @davidgalletly for illustration / personal, @safetygrab for rollerblading (it's good, honest).

I might start using my Twitter again (might not). I might start taking Patreon seriously (might not). I might start blogging here more regularly (might not).

Big love to the few who still read blogs in 2022. Hope you're good. Happy new year and good luck for whatever happens next. Always forwards, never backwards x

Monoroll

Please enjoy 3½ minutes of me rollerblading to an Altered Images song.

I rollerblade now. This is, what I'm (half) jokingly calling, my mid-life crisis. I started back in 2018* on a whim after I found some skates on Amazon for £70. We were still living in Glasgow, Beth was a few months old, I was out of shape and completely bored with being terrible at skateboarding.

FFWD to 2021 and I own 7 pairs of skates and visit the skatepark on my lunchbreak every day. I've lost 2 stone and have a fairly successful little Instagram account for my skate clips. Coincidentally, rollerblading is having a moment and the direction of the scene, after 20 years of being... questionable, is pretty cool and interesting.

Monoroll is a result of conversations with some skate-mates on an extremely nerdy Slack where we decided to work on solo video projects through the summer months. Nathan put one out a few months back and Jeremy has one pencilled in for later in September.

The main goal was to have a reason to skate and to try new things. I pushed myself fairly hard but decided against trying anything I considered too dangerous (no big jumps, no handrails). I know I could do better, I know I could go bigger but with the time I had and the risks I was willing to take, I'm happy with how it turned out.

Most tricks took me over an hour to land successfully, some took several hours over multiple trips to a spot. I wish I could go back and refilm a couple but, hey ho, done beats perfect.

The song is a bit weird and I worry that the lyrics imply I'm escaping from something / someone but there's not much more to the choice beyond it kinda clicking with the energy of the clips. I knew I wanted something Scottish and I knew it had to be fairly lighthearted.

If you'd like to follow my adventures on skates, the @safetygrab Instagram account is where everything lives.

Thanks to Alex for being amazingly patient with me throughout the summer as I jumped on every single opportunity I had to skate. Thanks to the pals on Slack for the encouragement too.

* I was part of the 90s rollerblading boom and skated heavily between 1995 and 1998. The muscle memory was still there 20 years later.

A 2020 Montage: 12 Photos per Month

Um. H-hello?

The above image is a chronological montage of photos I took in 2020. The top row is January, the next is February and so on. There's a super-massive version on my Flickr.

This montage is, appropriately, the 13th one of these things that I've made (the others live under the #montage tag). Sorry if I've inadvertently caused, y'know, things to happen*.

So hi. Happy new year. Nice to see you. What's been happening? Hmm. I see...

2020, as you know, was bad. I'm glad it's over. I talked a little about how things were going for me in a post back in June but the year didn't let up for long. Everyone in my life is still safe and well and sensible, which is my main news. I'm still working and I'm trying to hit 2021 running. To date, 2021 is trying its best to trip me up.

As the above montage suggests, Beth has been the centre of our past year. She just turned 3 and is a full-blown kid now. She started talking early so Alex and I have had an entire year of conversation with her. Hot topics right now: fairies, princesses, fairy princesses. It's strange to say but, because we spent so much time together, we'll likely have lots of good memories from 2020.

What else? I've been a terrible, terrible friend. My social calendar was sparse pre-pandemic but, Christ, I've barely spoken to anyone outside my immediate family all year. Sorry pals. I still love you and I'm determined to try harder.

The one exception is my new gang of internet pals. We're sharing a collective mid-life crisis and we talk about rollerblading all day long on Slack. No, you shut up. Big love to the Naughty Boys. I said shut up.

2021, then. Let's do it. Follow me on Twitter, on Instagram, and watch me skate. If you like what I do, please help me keep doing it.

Always forwards, never backwards. Good luck x

* Direct quote from last year: "Presuming the world doesn't entirely fall apart (and it might), I'm optimistic about 2020." Urg.

Back to Work

Hi! How are you?

After nearly 4 months of lockdown I am writing to declare, almost entirely to myself, that I am back to work as of today. Not that I really stopped working, but you know what I mean. This is a tentative declaration as things are still far from ok but, given the situation here in Scotland, I feel like I can now return to my studio responsibly and work more regularly.

My lockdown has been unremarkable in the grand scheme of things and I'm thankful for that. Everyone in my life is safe and all our difficulties are pretty surmountable. I've not done... much, but I'm trying not to give myself a hard time. I reckon I've been a good dad. I'll take that. I also used my exercise quota to get good at rollerblading. That's not a joke.

Working from home started out great for the first couple of months then slowed to a crawl by the end. That's entirely on me because Alex and Beth are THE BEST and gave me loads of time and space. Still, I found working during lockdown difficult and, as every working-from-home-during-lockdown article says, that's ok.

I have a small backlog of jobs to work through (apologies to anyone who's waiting on something) and then I'm good to go on new stuff. What that new stuff is, I'm not sure. THE FUTURE is a lot more uncertain than it was a few months ago and my priority is making a feasible plan to continue earning a living doing what I do.

With that in mind, I hope to diversify my income a little so that I'm not relying on a single source of cash. While I don't want to spread myself thin, a few steady earners would help to settle the nerves. I've got some ideas I'd like to try.

The first, and least concrete, is to fiddle with Patreon. I've made one here. I mention this with the massive asterisk that I understand that the whole creative world is crowdfunding everything right now and I'd be daft to assume that it'll work for me. It's worth exploring, though.

For now, I've no specific goals or content to offer anyone who supports me and I'm making no promises about my output until I properly figure it out so I have zero expectations that anyone'll sign up yet. I'll share more when if/when I'm ready to commit to something. That said, I'd be delighted if you have a look. Can I triple-underline 'no promises'? Ta.

Other than that, I'm really looking forward to making things again. I'm most likely to talk about new stuff on my Instagram and on my Twitter. I'm also looking forward to interacting with non-family members again. That'll be weird.

Hope you're ok btw x

A 2019 Montage: 12 Photos per Month

In my last round up, I said that there was a good chance the next time I'd write something here would be January 2020. Well hello.

The above montage is a chronological grid of photos from 2019. The top row is January, the 2nd is February and so on. I've been making these things every January for 12(!) years now. There's a gigantic version on my Flickr and the archive is under the #montage tag.

I'm so outta practice with writing that I'm already finding it painful. To keep things simple, here's a list of the main 2019 events (in my life):

2019 things:

• We've been living in Stirling for a year now!
• Beth just turned 2 and can talk!
• Alex got a new job!
• I really like my wee studio!
• I lost a stone!

Presuming the world doesn't entirely fall apart (and it might), I'm optimistic about 2020. The last few years have been, um, blurry, but I kinda feel like I've got a hand back on the wheel.

As always, I hope to post here more on but, going by my recent streak, that's easier said than done. Follow my Instagram if you want regular bits from me.

Cheerio for now, dear listener. I love you x

Blewitt's

In November of 2018, after nearly 10 years of living and working in Glasgow, Alex, Beth and I moved back to Stirling. We now have a little bungalow and a garden and can hang out with our parents without a massive hassle.

Instead of setting up a home studio like I had in Glasgow, I've taken the plunge on hiring a place in Stirling city centre. Fortuitously, our move lined up perfectly with the opening of Creative Stirling's new hub at 44 King St. and I've been working from my own little room upstairs for a few weeks now.

I'll talk more about 44 King St. some other time but, as the first resident artist, Creative Stirling asked me to put on a little show in the Made in Stirling gallery space on the ground floor.

I've called the show Blewitt's and it opens on Friday 25th January. There's an opening party on Thursday 24th 6pm-8pm. All welcome. There will be booze.

As Blewitt's has a very tight turnaround, it will feature mostly pre-existing work. That said, I have made some new stuff and I'm trying my best to make whatever else I gather together as interesting as possible. The idea is to present an overview of everything I do rather than chucking up the same 10 drawings everyone's seen before*. Illustration, sketches, prints, design stuff, animation stuff etc.

One thing that I'm excited about is that I'm including a Lost Map section. I've done a lot of really interesting stuff for the label over the last five years and I thought it'd be cool to put it all in one place. Team Lost Map have been great in helping me out with a bunch of records and merch to include / sell.

If you'd like to come along, the details are as follows:

Blewitt's by David Galletly Runs: 25th January through February

Made in Stirling
44 King Street
Stirling
FK8 1AY

Opening party: Thursday 24th Jan, 6-8pm

If you use Facebook, you can confirm your attendance on the event page. This helps give the Made in Stirling team an idea of numbers (don't worry if you don't, though, just rock up).

I'll try my best to put out as much behind-the-scenes stuff as I can on my Instagram and my Twitter. Important info For Beth-fans - she will attend the party, but only for a little while at the start.

* that doesn't mean those same 10 drawings won't be there

A 2018 Montage: 12 Photos per Month

This is how my 2018 looks as a chronological 12x12 grid of photos. The top row is January, the next February and so on. I've made 11 of these so far.

I put an extra large version on Flickr and earlier years live under the #montage tag.

Last year's post was heavy. Alex and I were dazed and confused as brand new parents and my dad's death was still sinking in. Health, sleep, work were a mess.

Here in January 2019 things are feeling, thankfully, a lot better. Last year was exhausting, but good. A big year.

My daughter, Beth, started 2018 as a tiny wriggly baby and ended it as a funny little walking, talking, whistling person. She completely and utterly dominated the year and our day-to-day life has changed beyond recognition. Despite endless late nights, early mornings and nappy changes, we're a very happy little family.

I'm so rusty at writing (I only posted here once in 2018) that I'm going to cut this entry short before I start rambling. My aim is to write more stuff, more often, so hopefully I'll get to other bits and pieces soon. If I don't, I guess I'll see you back here in January 2020.

Always forwards, never backwards. Happy New Year x

A 2017 Montage: 12 Photos Per Month

Every January I put together a montage of photos taken throughout the previous year. A chronological 12x12 grid as a reminder of events, big and small. The top row has 12 photos from January, the 2nd is February and so on.

This grid of photos from 2017 marks my 10th year of looking back (and then looking forward). A huge version lives on Flickr and previous entries live under the #montage tag.

2017 was hard. Easily the hardest year of all my years. It was very sad and it was very happy. 2017 was the year that my dad died and the year that Beth was born. Everything else that happened doesn't matter.

We found out that Alex was pregnant in April and told our family in June (on Father's Day). By then, my dad's health was on the downturn and I had to face the reality that his time was running out. He died in November.

I wrote a bit about him here. I'll write more someday.

Alex's pregnancy was, as far as pregnancies go, and as far as I can say from a dad's-eye-view, pretty great. We enjoyed keeping the news secret from everyone at the start, we enjoyed telling everyone in the middle and we enjoyed imagining who our little pal might turn out to be at the end. We hung out a lot, just the two of us, as the photos make clear.

Turns out, our little pal is Beth. Born just shy of Hogmanay, she kicked off our New Year and lifted everyone's spirits. She's the best. I'll write more about her someday.

Other than that, everything was pretty chaotic. My work was a mess, my diet was a mess, my sleep was (and still is) a mess. Messy, disorganised, unproductive. Bleh blah bloo.

The winter has been long and it isn't over yet. I've lost damn near 3 months worth of work time since November and I've got loads catch up on. Boy is it weighing on me. For the sake of my mental health, I'm toying with the idea of abandoning a few ships and starting fresh, despite the headaches that'll cause other people. Is that a good idea or is that a bad idea? Tweet me.

Anyway, I have no idea what the hell life'll look like come January 2019 but, as I say every year: always forwards, never backwards.

My Dad

My dad died a couple of weeks ago. He had pulmonary fibrosis, a lung condition most likely caused by exposure to dust over his 50 years as an electrician. He lived a good quality of life since his diagnosis but struggled through the last few months. He quickly deteriorated over a few days in hospital and died with my mum and me by his side. His funeral was on Friday.

I just wanted to put something up to say thanks to our friends and family for all their support. The visits, cards, flowers, phone calls, texts and messages have helped us both through a tough couple of weeks. As of yesterday, my mum and dad's house looks like a Paperchase exploded in the Botanic Gardens.

Thanks also to the NHS. Every doctor, nurse, specialist, consultant and tea-trolley driver who helped my dad, despite his insistence that they not make a fuss, was amazing.

I also wanted to write this for any friends / workmates / students / social media pals who hadn't heard what's been going on. My dad was a pretty private person and shoehorning the situation into conversations and/or writing about it on Twitter wasn't something I wanted to do. The distraction and respite you unknowingly provided me with has been massively important.

Right now, I'm fine. Right now my mum is fine. Right now Alex is fine. Sometimes we're not fine but then we're fine again after a bit. We've totally been able to laugh and joke and watch TV and stuff. Everything's fine until it's not.

I'm back at my desk in Glasgow after a couple of weeks at home in Stirling. Big love to my clients for their patience and understanding. I've a lot to catch up on, organise and reevaluate but the plan is to ramp back up to business-as-usual as quickly as I can.

Someday I'll probably write more about my dad. He was a good guy, you would've liked him. I'm proud to be his son and I miss him.

This Will Ruin Everything at The Lighthouse

In my previous post, I mentioned that, alongside their 10-year retrospective book (which was successfully Kickstarted - dancer!), Recoat are putting on a huge group show called This Will Ruin Everything at The Lighthouse in Glasgow. I said I'd write more about it nearer the time. Well, it's nearer the time, so here's me writing more about it.

This Will Ruin Everything opens on Friday (14th July). I dropped off my work at The Lighthouse this morning and got a wee glimpse. It looks amazing. TWRE features work by 40 amazing artists (39 + me) from all over the world who have worked with and/or influenced Recoat over the last 10 years. Every artist is tasked with submitting a piece of 'art' and a piece of 'design' and the exhibition deals with where the boundaries of both disciplines fall.

The space is FULL of great work - paintings, drawings, sculpture, records, clothing etc. and will expand further over the next few days with murals and installations. It's probably gonna be Recoat's best show to date and will be a contender for the best show in Glasgow this year.

The launch party is on Friday 6-9pm. It's free entry, open to all, and will have free beer provided by my pals, Innis & Gunn. Recoat openings are a great laugh whether you're an art show regular or a total newbie. There's no snobbishness at these things, just a bunch of good folk and a bunch of amazing work. It'll be really busy so you don't need to mingle or anything if that's not your bag (though say hello if it is). Make it part of your Friday night.

Beyond that, This Will Ruin Everything runs until the 30th of July so you can stop in when it's a bit quieter too. Amy and Ali are also hosting some events in the space (talks, film screenings etc.). More info about that stuff can be found over on the This Will Ruin Everything Facebook page.

The details at a glance:

This Will Ruin Everything
The Lighthouse, Glasgow
Mitchell Lane (just off Buchanan St.)
15th - 30th July
Open Mon-Sat 10.30am-5pm / Sunday 12-5pm

Opening Party
14th July 2017
6-9pm
Free Entry

Featuring work by:
44 Flavours, Ade Adesina, Jennifer Argo, ASKEW, Will Barras, Erin Bradley Scott, Rebecca Davies, Elph, EMA, FiST, Emily Fong, David Galletly, Good Wives and Warriors, Fraser Gray, Lee Ivett, Jamie Johnson, Kid Acne, Chris Macfarlane, Mark Lyken, Lucy MacLeod, R.Liwen, Tommy Mason, Neil McGuire and Imogen Ayres, Lucy McLauchlan, Martina Merlini, Matt Mignanelli, Matt,W.Moore, Morag Myerscough, Nawer, Tommy Perman, Gabriella ‘Risotto’ Marcella, Roid MSK, Rue Five, Emer Tumilty, Al White, Kirsty Whiten, Maya Wild, Susie Wright, Denise Zygadlo

So there you go. There's a great interview with Recoat about This Will Ruin Everything in the Skinny which is definitely worth a read. If you want to share this post or anything else about the show, that would be massively appreciated. Official orders are to use the hashtag #thiswillruineverything. I'm really proud to be part of this project and I'm really proud of Amy and Ali. Well done guys. Here's to 10 more years x

Come along. Support the arts. Have fun.

This Will Ruin Everything: A Crowdfunded Book by Recoat

Recoat are celebrating their 10th anniversary this July with a massive group exhibition called This Will Ruin Everything at The Lighthouse in Glasgow and by creating an amazing 192-page hardback book documenting the staggering amount of work they've produced and/or facilitated since 2007.

I'll write more about the show (which I'll be part of) and for my deep love for Recoat later but, for now, I really want to point you towards the Kickstarter page for the This Will Ruin Everything book. To successfully fund the printing, Recoat need to hit a target of £11,000 in the next couple of weeks. They're on-course but, as with all Kickstarter projects, it'll only happen if people make a continued effort to help out.

If you know Amy and Ali, have visited Recoat or dig the work of any of their collaborators (like me), it's a no-brainer. Buy yourself a copy and feel good for doing a good deed. To enjoy 10 years of their amazing work in Glasgow (and beyond) FOR FREE and not chuck £30 their way makes you a shite.

Alex (my wife!) helping Askew One with a mural in Glasgow for Recoat's In Common project. Photo by Ewan Kinloch.

If you're not familiar with Recoat, please, please, please take a look at the page anyway. The book'll appeal to anyone with an interest in public art, graffiti, graphics, illustration and any weird blend of the above. Beyond that, there are a ton of reward tiers offering everything from tote bags to prints (including one of mine!) to full-on murals on your car, in your house, at your place of work or on any wall you have authority over. If you own a business and want it to, y'know, look the business, this is an opportunity to do something amazing for your workplace and for two of the hardest working artists in Scotland.

That link again.

Thanks pals x

Jonathan Demme / Stop Making Sense / David Byrne GIF

I didn't know too much about Jonathan Demme, who died yesterday, other than that he directed The Silence of The Lambs and Stop Making Sense. Even if he did nothing else, that's a hell of a CV.

I remember first reading that Stop Making Sense was 'the greatest concert film ever made' in Q Magazine when I got into music as a teenager but I never watched it. It floated in my periphery for years before I finally bought the DVD in Fopp for a fiver.

A decade of hearing that something is unequivocally the best had me ready for disappointment but I was sold before Psycho Killer (the first song) was over. Stop Making Sense is the best. If you've never seen it, you should. Look, here it is here:

Seeing clips from SMS all over Twitter put me in the mood to sit down and watch the whole thing. I had my iPad to hand at the time and I started doodling David Byrne dancing in his big suit. The doodle became a couple of poses which became an animated gif (above).

I also added some music and put it on my Instagram. He dances in time! That was a lucky accident.

Pictish Trail Live at The Stand: Animated

In 2015, Johnny Lynch (aka Pictish Trail), toured with Josie Long. The mighty Lost Map Records has preserved his set from The Stand in Edinburgh as a limited edition cassette available exclusively at Pictish Trail live gigs.

To promote the release, Johnny asked if I'd be up for illustrating a 7-minute excerpt to share online. I was definitely up for illustrating a 7-minute excerpt to share online. I finished it yesterday and it's available to watch at the top of the page, on the Lost Map YouTube channel and on the Pictish Trail Facebook page.

Anyone who has seen Johnny live will know that his stage patter often veers into all-out stand-up comedy, particularly when he's playing songs from In Rooms, his fantastically weird 30-second song project. The new cassette captures the magic and even includes the infamous 'Birds' - a one-word singalong that hangs over Johnny like 'Creep' hangs over Radiohead. A true albatross (ho ho).

The plan was to create a simple slideshow of drawings to accompany the audio. Given that I've caught the animation bug recently, I tried my best to add as much movement as I could in the fairly tight timeframe I had. The end result is something in between - it's not a slideshow but it's not a full-blown animation either.

Regardless, I'm happy with it and it's definetly worth a look/listen if you've never caught a Pictish Trail gig before. He's on tour next month btw.