Transition (alternate Model image)

This sheet is an alternate model image of Transition, produced in 2020 as part of Mannion's mokuhanga output. Alternate model impressions in water-based woodblock practice typically record variant inkings, registration trials, or test states pulled during the development of the published edition — common in mokuhanga because the technique permits a printmaker to vary tonal density, colour saturation, and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradients between impressions without re-cutting the block. The image carries the same compositional concerns as the editioned Transition: a meditation on threshold and passage that connects to Mannion's longstanding engagement with the architectural geometry of medieval Cistercian and Friary buildings in Connacht, the subject of her doctoral research. Working from her studio between Boyle and her exhibiting circuit at the RA, RHA, and RUA, Mannion treats mokuhanga as one strand within a parallel relief-print practice that also encompasses wood engraving, lino, and woodcut, with each medium foregrounding different material qualities — here, the absorbent [washi](/glossary/washi) support and pigment-and-water layering specific to the Japanese tradition.