The first charcoal figure in the new portfolio sequence — and charcoal's distinctive quality is immediately apparent: where chalk produces a relatively clean line, charcoal smudges and spreads, the marks slightly softer at their edges, the tonal zones built by smearing as much as by hatching. The figure stands in left profile with the right knee raised, the foot resting on an unseen ledge or support, the right elbow resting on the raised knee and the right forearm hanging down in a gesture of relaxed waiting. The head is bowed toward the raised knee, the loose hair falling forward from the crown. The body is heavier and fuller than most figures in the narrow-format series.
The charcoal is applied with confidence and some tonal layering: the left side of the figure receives broad shadow marks that give the body depth, the raised knee and the arm resting on it described with several overlapping strokes, the loose hair at the crown given a dense, soft mass. The foot resting on the ledge is indicated but the ledge itself is not — the raised foot simply hanging at mid-air in the composition, the implied support invisible. This creates a slightly levitating quality: the model appears to rest on nothing.
The raised-knee resting pose — elbow on knee, body leaning — is the most relaxed and casual posture in the new portfolio, the figure genuinely at ease rather than posed. It connects to the seated and reclining figures of the third portfolio while retaining the standing orientation: the body upright but the weight partially transferred to the raised knee's support. Among the charcoal's qualities in this work is the softness of the figure's outer edge — slightly blurred rather than sharply defined, the body's boundary less crisp than in chalk or ink. This softness suits the relaxed posture.