A mixed media portrait — pencil drawing with watercolor wash added — and the most fashion-forward of all the portraits. A woman, nearly frontal, is drawn in pencil with exceptional attention to her elaborate hair: a large sculptural mass of waves and curls, each wave individually described, the overall form both specific and theatrical. Below the hair, the face is rendered with careful observation: eyes looking slightly downward, the nose and mouth drawn with feeling.
But the most distinctive element is the jacket or coat — a large-collared, broad-shouldered garment rendered with soft pink-lavender watercolor wash in the lapels and across the shoulders, and a green watercolor stripe at the center front. These added washes of color transform the drawing from a portrait study into something closer to a fashion illustration — the garment given its own color presence alongside the pencil figure.
The arms crossed below with one hand partially visible, the slight downward cast of the eyes, and the dramatic hair combine to create an impression of a specific personality — stylish, confident, slightly guarded. This is someone who cares how they appear and appears with intention.
The selective addition of color — just the jacket, not the face or hair — is an unusual compositional decision: Sidney choosing which element to emphasize with color while leaving the rest in pencil. The jacket's pink and green suggest a specific garment, a specific decade, a specific context.