Behind the work: "Kirifuri"

Six blocks, six passes, registered by hand. The run is retired when the last impression sells. Completed in 2025, it's woodblock, hand-pulled at 380 × 250 mm, and it comes from Rei Nakamura's studio in Kyoto — limited edition of 30.

How it was made

Color mixing habits are one of the most personal, least documented parts of a painter's process — the same reference photograph handed to two artists working in the same medium will produce two entirely different palettes, shaped by years of individual habit.

Working in a series lets an artist ask the same question from several angles across multiple pieces, which is a genuinely different creative problem than a one-off — the constraint of returning to a subject is often what produces the most surprising variations.

What it's worth knowing before you buy

Panel supports resist warping better than stretched canvas over the very long term, which is why some painters return to wood panel for pieces meant to be genuinely permanent, even though canvas remains lighter, cheaper, and easier to ship.

Pastel is closer to drawing than painting in its physical structure — pigment held to the surface with minimal binder, which makes it luminous in a way oil paint structurally can't match, and fragile in a way that demands glazing no other medium requires.

Like the rest of Rei Nakamura's work, "Kirifuri" ships with a signed certificate of authenticity and a condition report photographed the day it's packed — the same protection that applies to every physical sale on Bello, regardless of price.