Brooks Brown

A note from Brooks Brown:

My goal in retiring here was to spend my full time dedicated to creating art in and around Aiken, to be with horses either with the Great Oak Theraputic Riding Center or on the sides of the road, and to put my artographs in the Aiken Center for the Arts exhibits.

I like being surrounded by horses, equestrian eventing, and polo riders that afford me the opportunity to use my iPhone to capture their beauty wherever I see them. I love being in the moment where it’s me, my iPhone in hand, with a horse, or nature, gardens or flowers or rolling hills on country farms, and endless landscapes where I can render what my artistic eye captures onto canvas or fabric as I always wanted to have happen. I have arrived and feel lucky that Aiken has welcomed me here so openly!

Brooks Brown | Photo Of The Month | Palmetto Bella

The August Bella Book Club Review | The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid After all these years posh Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo is ready to tell her life story. She retreated from the spotlight in the 1980s, after years of fame, but remained a legacy. With amazing grace and beauty, she was an enigma that left the public wanting to know more about her life and, of course, the seven men she married along the way. Now, at the age of 79, she is willing to grant an interview with a large magazine on one condition — the article must be written by Monique Grant. When she chooses Monique Grant, an aspiring journalist,

The Edge of Creativity | Creative of the Month | Aiken Bella Magazine

The Edge of Creativity | Creative of the Month | July

“Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” ~ Pablo Picasso The theme of this month’s issue of Bella is youth, so this month I wanted to focus on young creatives as well as those creatives who are focusing on, working with, or inspiring the youth. As I prepared for this month’s story I came to an uncomfortable realization that there are not a lot of young creatives in my world. Sure there are a lot of young people in my life who are creative, but none that I know of that are considered “creatives” and certainly not a whole lot making a

An Extraordinary Event

As a nurse who loves history, I’ve always gravitated to the question: what were the women doing during periods of historical interest, particularly in times of crisis? One group that has garnered my attention is the experience of female military nurses who served in Vietnam. There weren’t many of them, only 4,000 to 15,000, depending on who did the counting. Records of women in the military at that time were often fragmented since female volunteers were rare in a typically male endeavor. I wondered what drew the young nurses to volunteer in the Vietnam War. I found that some came from military families and thought it was a chance to

July Book Club Selection: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Aiken Bella Magazine Book Club July Book Club Selection: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James Summer is one of my favorite times to grab a fast-paced read. Our July Book Club choice is The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. For those who are not familiar with St. James, she is master of the period ghost story. In The Sun Down Motel she hits the mark again with a chilling ghost-based mystery that straddles two time periods. In 1982 Vivian Delaney runs away from home with ambitions to move to New York City. However, she ends up in Fell, New York, alone, with her money running out