Extraordinary Angels

This shows a wee collection of cards on my bookcase which didn't get recycled after Christmas. They are from Alec Galloway and family.

Alec is a well-established glass artist and painter, based in Inverclyde, Scotland.

He's now a blipping as Glassman

One is a postcard and the others are Christmas cards.

Alec sent me two Christmas cards this year! Think he must have been going skelly-eyed, sitting up late before Christmas writing cards and he forgot to cross me off the list.

(He did better than me as I hardly sent any cards this year...)

I was quite happy as they're both beautiful images and reflect Alec's love of music and also his 'day job' as a stained glass artist - a haven for angelic imagery.

Often when you phone Alec he's up on scaffolding on an old church examining a broken stained glass window.

The Debbie Harry images are part of a work called called Debbie and Mary, while the one featuring Johnny Ramone is called Bible Johnny.

I first met Alec when I was involved with the now sadly defunct Aspect Prize for painting. Alec was a finalist in the Aspect Prize in 2009.

We kept in touch and I asked him if he'd get involved in the Whysman Festival, the year long celebration of George Wyllie's work.

Alec's large question sculptures, made as a tribute to George, along the side of the M8 from Langbank to Port Glasgow have become a landmark signalling motorists' entry into Inverclyde.

They've featured on Blipfoto more than once, I've noticed.

Now I'm working with Alec again as part of the Greenock-based Absent Voices project, which aims to tell the creative story of Greenock's once mighty sugar industry by focusing on the sugar sheds at James Watt Dock in Greenock.

They are Blipping as SugarSheds1.

I've kept a few other Christmas cards from artists up, including a cracker - a hand-drawn angel from June Carey.

I've even got one from 2012 still on kitchen wall from Helen Wilson - a wee angel who doubles up as a big 1st class Christmas stamp.

These angels get everywhere...