Breaking Through The Paint Barrier

Brushing Up On Australian Artistry

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Remember how my Canadian friend Allan Cook recently came up with the concept of tag-team blogging? He suggested that he and I post simultaneously on our respective blogs and that I would pose a question on my blog and include a link so that readers could go to his blog for the answer. To see how we did this, just go to Deck Cheney and follow the link.

Now I'm borrowing Allan's great concept and extending it to a regular visitor to this site. Marianne Plumridge is an expatriate Aussie who is based in New England, US. She has a couple of sites, but you can see some of her wonderful art, updated regularly, at Daub du Jour.

Marianne mentioned to me a couple of days ago that she was missing the Australian weather, so I took this shot for her. It shows the incredible green tones of the native bottlebrush, still thriving and healthy despite the fierce drought. There you go, Marianne. It'd be great if you would consider painting this and putting it on your site.

Deck, Cheney

Tag-Team Blogging Is A Cook's Tour

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This great concept, ``tag-team blogging'', is the brainchild of Allan Cook, a progressive Canadian blogger. He suggested that I pose a question on my blog in Australia - and invite readers to go to his blog in Canada for the immediate answer.
So simple, yet so effective. I wish I'd thought of it.
Okay, so this is how it works. Have a look at the capstan (that's the black object that looks like a chess piece) in this photograph. I shot this about 18 months ago during a cruise on the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Segwun at Gravenhurst, Ontario. About a week ago, Allan emailed me to see if I knew the specific purpose of the capstan. Duh, I said, not a clue.
Now comes the fun part. Just go to http://web.mac.com/allancook to check Allan's memorable explanation. I hope you enjoy his laudable concept and I'm sure you'll like his site as well.

And if you want to read my entire feature article on the Segwun, along with photographs, go to Old King Coal's Soul at Terry Fletcher's excellent Anglo-Indian Portal.

FOOTNOTE: Do leave us a comment to let us know what you think. And if anyone else would like to tag-team with Allan, you now know where to find this man of ideas.

He's The Chief Cook

Canadian Introduces Tag-Team Blogging

I have a lot of time (and professional respect) for Allan Cook, a blogger from Gravenhurst, Canada. He and I have never actually met, but we keep in touch regularly - and he gave me a great idea recently. His concept is so simple. He suggested that he and I post simultaneously on the same subject, with me posing a question on my blog while he provides the answer on his. I reckon it sounds like an internet version of a tag-team approach. We'll be doing this on Friday (that'll be Saturday here in Australia) so stand by for details.