BRUMLEY & WELLS are pure magicians behind the cameraééò and I’m extremely honoured to feature their beautiful work on the cover of Issue 8 of MAGNOLIA ROUGE MAGAZINE. I feel very privileged to call these talented people friends! Together with CELESTE GREEN who came up with the concept and put her beautiful styling touches to the shoot, they journeyed to the California Coast where they went to great efforts setting things up on the beach. Not exactly an easily accessed part of the coast, between the team they had helping they traipsed several miles back and forth carrying everything in including that rather large and heavy table! Featuring three stunning JOHANNA JOHNSON gowns which were beautifully accessorised with jewels from SARAH RICHEY and florals from HANA AND PINE it’s rawness is pure beauty and shows off the natural elements of the area in such stunning light.
Lapidaire: an artist or artisan who forms stone, minerals, or gemstones into decorative items
He is a fierce and mighty torrent. His waves and his winds carve and sculpt the edges of the earth in a brooding and tireless mess of time and stone. He is the sea, relentless and determined in his love. And somehow, without thought, without practice, and without knowing how or why, he cuts and shapes every stone in his path into masterful works that send us racing to the coast to marvel at his art. And we do marvel. It is beautiful. Despite the fear that takes our breath when we sense his strength in the evening tide, we feel inspired. In that way, I guess the sea is like a young lover, clumsy and powerful, but full of heart and determined to make his love evident in the Cliffs of Moher, along the great Ocean Road, by the mountains soaring up from Milford Sound, in the white sandy beaches of the Caribbean, and on the black rocks of Big Sur.
But the Lapidaire is different. Her love is quiet. Despite her youth, she is wise and patient. While the sea blows his mighty winds and claps his waves for attention, she waits calmly for the whispering breath of the muse. Her work is graceful. When the sea, in his ancient youth, pounds violently against the rock and exhales his mighty voice, she delicately clasps her gem of choice between her hands and proceeds to shape it with thought and intent. Like a master of any craft, this is how she’s chosen to articulate her soul, to show the world what the muse has said when her heart was still enough to hear it. And if she bravely heeds that voice, she will cut in a moment what the sea will shape in a year. Her work will not stand high and mighty like the monuments of the sea, but it will be strong and full to the brim with the same love that moved them both to cut, to shape, to form.
That’s what love does.
It inspires. It forms. It whispers.
It moves. It breathes.
Photography BRUMLEY & WELLS / Styling CELESTE GREEN / Florist HANA AND PINE / Stationery THE WELLS MAKERY / Location BIG SUR / Gowns JOHANNA JOHNSON / Jewellery SARAH RICHEY / Make-up SHERRIE LONG / Lingerie FLEUR OF ENGLAND / Model ACHOK
