First seen in the Waikato Watercolourists exhibition earlier this year, Rebecca Dowman-Ngapo's powerful composition, End of a Journey - Blackwater Rafting, Waitomo, has sold to a local collector.  

The painting is bursting with energy as each member of the party hauls themselves purposefully into daylight. Like Homer’s 1934 rendering of The Cherry Pickers, each person, seen in profile only, maintains a private relationship with their immediate task environment, dedicated to carry out their intended warrant (see graphic below). 

For Gallery Trustees and volunteers, this painting has been a particular favourite and while happy to see it going to a wonderful home, it will be missed.