NOVEMBER 2025 NEWSLETTER
Dear Friends
The only way to describe November in Gauteng is “Wet! Wet! Wet!”, and I’m not referring to lazy days around the pool or the Scottish rock band from the 1980s and 90s. Rain, hail, wind and all manner of nasties have created havoc in the garden and decimated tender leaves.
Lace & Polka Dots
The beetles are back in town, creating delicate lacey leaves and weirdly-shaped rose blooms. The shiny black chafer beetles with their dramatic white spots can smell my pale pink roses from kilometres away! It’s time to bring out the big guns in my personal war on those determined critters.
A Painting's Journey
I invite you to follow the interesting journey of my latest painting in the picture gallery below. It's a round (tondo) watercolour of some of the beautiful flowers found in many Highveld gardens in November. How many of them are in your garden?
Word of the Month
“Verbiage”
Verbosity, gobbledygook, waffle, circumlocution.
“She used complex verbiage to baffle their brains”
Sold in November
The last of my artworks were sold in November, and that leaves my gallery pretty much empty. I'm looking forward to creating a new batch of works in 2026: a new year, a fresh bunch of flowers!
View the paintings and drawings sold in November below
Word Power
Words are powerful and mean different things to different people in different situations. They start off as thoughts, are shaped by emotions and then manifest as a sword to harm, or a balm to heal. The T.H.I.N.K. principle can be helpful when deciding whether to say, write or share something:
T - is it true?
H - is it helpful?
I - is it inspirational?
N - is it necessary?
K - is it kind?
If it doesn't tick all the boxes, it's best to keep it to ourselves!
Raffle Winner
Jenny Howell's raffle ticket was drawn from the famous green hat, and she's now the happy owner of Maria Kaye's beautiful watercolour painting "Full Bloom". I hope the painting will bring her many years of joy!
Raffle ticket sales contributed a fabulous R2370 towards the R16600 raised for my church's HOPE Basket. Thank you to everyone who purchased raffle tickets.
November Birthdays
Happy birthday to all the November babies: Marphy, Celia, Pam, Andrew, Erika, Tara, Bev, Chris, Nicole, Jenny L, Erica K, Mark, Joanne and Keryn. I hope you enjoy Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten”, and remember to live with arms wide open!
NB If you haven’t yet sent me your birthday day and month, please send it to me via WhatsApp, or fill in the online SUBSCRIBE form.