G’evening all, I trust you’re well? Well it’s that special night, Christmas Eve, with just one more sleep to go until the big man visits! I started this on Christmas Eve but because I got caught up in the festive spirit It’s taken me until today, New Years Eve, to finish it!

I’ve neglected this blog this year, as time went on I gathered more and more photos which would mean more time needed to actually post something here, so I’ve picked 12 photos from each month of 2009 to post here and write a little something about, a summery if you will.

Well then, let’s start shall we?

01 – JANUARY

The start of the year for us lucky pups at Aardman meant we moved into our brand new purpose-built home. It was really nice to be in a central place, we’ve gotten to know so many other people from all the magical departments that make Aardman tick, so that’s been a real treat. It’s incredible how much the swell of creativity rubs off on your own work, a big mixture of pride, excitement & creativity! Oh and the in-house 40-seat cinema doesn’t hurt either ;)

02 – FEBRUARY

This year has really been all about bicycles for me. I’ve really gotten into it in all aspects, loving every part of it. It was in February that I started bringing my camera out with me, filming the antics of a small group of us riding around. Little did I know how much it’s grow and what it’d turn into! The shot above was a night that Mr Tim Ward came out, armed to the teeth with his camera gear to capture some two-wheeled fun.

03 – MARCH

2009 was a good year for Bristol art. The Royal West of England Academy of Art decided to hand the entire building of the a legion of Bristols finest artists and let them run riot. The result was a mind-blowing concoction of over 40 artists leaving their mark on the RWA (Literally, it wasn’t just canvases, it was directly on the walls). The above photo is my man Richt’s piece in collab with Sums and 45’s on the left.

04 – APRIL

April was when myself and a group of the Xynthetic family went north of the border and put on our first exhibition in Scotland. Glasgow is home to fellow Xyn member Klingatron who kindly put us up and was the host with the most, giving us a full authentic Glaswegian experience! Jonny made an edit of our weekend, you can peep that here! It was alot of fun, we met a great bunch of people and all of us together in one house made for alot of laughter.

05 – MAY

This year i was lucky enough to be given another opportunity to speak at a bunch of Apple stores, after doing one in the Birmingham Bullring store back in November 2008. I took that same talk to Bristol, the flagship Regent Street store in London and then finishing it off by bringing it to my hometown of Leicester! It’s an absolute honour to be given an opportunity to speak about what I love doing, and it really meant alot to me that people would give me their time to waffle on about graphics and stuff. I’m hoping to do some more waffling on in 2010 if people aren’t sick of me already!

06 – JUNE

The summer month saw my good lady Sarah’s sister Becky get married to her long time fella Richard at a beautiful location in Leicester. I took my D40 and snapped away all day, with the above photo being one of my favourites!

07 – JULY

The bike scene in Bristol, especially the fixed gear bike scene, had really blown up by Summer and was really helped along by the mass of events that were put on by enthusiastic folk wanting to get everyone together. This shot is one of the ‘lift’ shots I make everyone do at every race, it’s especially fun to make them hold as long as possible! The variety of races and challenges have really made a good group of friends but still very open to new riders, which I like. It was the summer when filming for my BÖIKZMÖIND film was really in full swing, filming at least a couple of times a week! The trailer for the film has had over 20,000 views so far, which is very cool, looking forward to making the full film in 2010!

08 – AUGUST

It had already been open for a few months, but August was when i finally got a chance to see the infamous Banksy show at the museum here in Bristol. I very nearly didn’t get to see it at all, as I didn’t fancy queing for 4 hours to get in but as luck would have it, the kind folk at Bristol Media managed to get an after-hours private view for all members of the Bristol Media group. Luckily i was a member and got to see the show, it was definitely worth the wait!

09 – SEPTEMBER

I couldn’t quite believe it, but in September Pete Docter & Jonas Rivera from Pixar visited Aardman! They did a Q&A session with Nick Park and then showed us their new film ‘UP’ in the cinema (as Pete was the director and Jonas was the producer of the film). It was a fantastic day at work, seeing those 3 masterminds of animation talking and finding out about how the genius’s of Pixar do things and then getting to see UP before it was released! A very inspiring day to say the least.

10 – OCTOBER

More visitors to Bristol from over the pond… this time one of my favourite rappers P.O.S. and producer Paper Tiger from the infamous DOOMTREE crew! They came over as part of their tour, supporting The King Blues, playing at The Fiddler. In the end, because my very good friend Abjekt handles their PR/Press when they’re in the UK, they ended up staying at mine after the gig, then taking them for a proper english breakfast before they headed on to their next gig! Nothing more hip-hop than 2 sausage, egg, bacon, beans & a cuppa.

11 – NOVEMBER

As the year started coming to the tail end, we celebrated 20 years since Wallace & Gromit first appeared on our screens! We had a birthday party at work and I got the honour of re-designing the W&G website to conincide with the anniversary, which you can see here. Oh and the big orange rocket above? That’s the original rocket used in A Grand Day Out! It’s made from card, paper mache and lentils – that’s a fact!

12 – DECEMBER

My final image was taken at the top of the Arc De Triomphe in Paris, looking down on the 12 rue’s that lead off from the Arc. Me & Sarah went to Paris to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and had a fantastic time, seeing lots of beautiful things and getting very excited about Christmas (as the Christmas markets opened that weekend). It was a beautiful end to the year.

So my friends, that’s it from me! It’s been a wonderful year and a wonderful decade too. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read this and for taking the time to look / read / be involved in the endeavors I’ve pursued this year, I really really appreciate it. I hope you have a great New years, whatever it is that you’re doing. I’ll see you on the other side…

Good night and good luck.

- Gav