This is the last of many beautifully made crates that have been rolling out through our loading bay in the last few weeks, on their way to homes and galleries where they'll be filled with paintings by Shane Cotton.

As anyone will know who attended Shane's talk in Christchurch last year (and that's a lot of people: there was a crowd of over three hundred in attendance), quite some time ago we started planning a touring show of new and recent skyscapes by the Canterbury-trained painter. A certain seismic upheaval put a dent in that plan, and The Hanging Sky – as the show's called – had to stay grounded.

But at last, early next month, the tour will begin – albeit in reverse. First stop is Brisbane, at the Institute of Modern Art, from where the show will wend its way back to Christchurch via Sydney's Campbelltown Arts Centre and a couple of New Zealand's public galleries.

By which time, here's hoping (please touch wood and cross all your fingers for us now), the restoration work on the Gallery will be done and our long-missed walls will be ready and waiting.

It'll feel very good, a few weeks from now, to open the crate above and hang Christchurch's own Takarangi in the IMA in Brisbane. But we hope the IMA will understand if we say it'll feel even better to eventually hang it right here in Christchurch Art Gallery.