MADELEINE'S HEP HERD

Alba ad Astra Originally uploaded by MadeleineS . Mike at Transreal Fiction has agreed to extend the run of the Alba ad Astra exhibition to the end of September. All the documents, so carefully researched by Gavin Inglis and Andrew C. Ferguson of Writers' Bloc continue to be on display along side my photographs. If you thought you'd missed your chance to see this fantastic piece of research into Scotland's engineering past then don't despair - there are still a few weeks in which to visit it at Transreal Ficiton, 7 Cowgatehead, The Grassmarket, Edinburgh. If you can't get a long to the show you can see the photographs and some of our research notes at www.madeleineshepherd.co.uk . The collective which constructed this exhibition is currently considering how to take it forward. We hope to be able to report on the expected return of the Golden Eagle capsule on 30th November, regardless of restrictions that may be placed in our path. We also hope to be able to rec...

Stelarc eat your heart out - I've had a useful physical enhancement, replacing bone with cobalt-chrome alloy! My first hip replacement (4 weeks ago) seems to have been very straightforward. The second one is due before the end of the year. I'm extremely hopeful that I'll regain a lot of energy once I'm free from the pain and the drugs - until the arthritis finds a new playground! Right now, I get tired very quickly, am walking with two sticks and not allowed on buses or in black cab-type taxis in case I dislocate the new joint sitting on low seats or getting on board. This make things very frustrating as my head is as full of ideas as ever and I'd really like to be in my studio much more. It's made even more of a mess of the house than I usually manage. I have several aids for sitting at the right height, for picking things up and getting about, we've had to use the mattress from the sofa bed to raise the height of our bed. So the sofa frame is now cov...

Well the arts market came and went - it went well and I'll certainly do it again. As you can see I didn't get the best spot being at the back of the hall in front of some scaffolding but I did have access to power for my spotlights. Not nearly as necessary as I feared but they'll probably come into their own at a winter market. The atmosphere was so much more open and positive than the traditional craft and design fairs I've been to of late. I'm still trying to work out why. It certainly attracted a younger crowd more interested in the work and having a nice day out. Of course they may all be other stall holders and their friends and in the end the "taking in each other's washing" business model will fail. But for now it's worth persisting. There's a new collection of my hats and knitted scarves in Fabhatrix - Cloche hats, "seaweed" scarves and Mobius strip scarves & collars, mostly in black with purples and pinks and als...

A Bestiary of Authors Originally uploaded by MadeleineS . A quick snap of my exhibition just before opening - not to a fanfare or a private few(view) but to the general Monday morning in July shoppers. Sunday 29 July was spent getting the final pictures into frames and breaking my nails in the process (girly boo hoo!) then getting everything hung up at Transreal. Mike was great at accurately positioning all the big framed photos like these ones and worked really hard to get it done in some awkward places. There's a real mixture of work on show - fifty two items altogether. If you need a justification for that mixture then it reflects the variety of people in the exhibition as well as the development of my practice over many years. I've been taking photos of SF & F authors for about ten years with no real plan behind it. When we decided to have the exhibition it was a big job just finding all the potential candidates in the archive and picking out a representative selec...

Last night was the opening of Images from the Garden IX at the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh where it turns out I have two prints on display :-) I'm pleased about this as I've submitted work to this exhibition for a few years now and I never know what will be selected until the opening night. This is one of the two they picked : Pollenation ( Sparrmannia africana - African hemp). Of course the images are worth seeing in real life, as is the rest of the exhibition. The majority of work is botanical painting but more space than ever is now given to photography and there are a number of craft works on display too. I particularly like the felt work by Sylvia Woodford probably because some of it reminds me of my own work. (see madeleineshepherd.co.uk ). If you are in Edinburgh between now and the end of March do go and see the show. Details at rbge.org.uk