Tribe – Profile

A woman in profile against near-total black, a large carved disc earring catching the only strong light. Original charcoal on paper, signed, framed and ready to hang.

She is seen from behind and to the side, head turned enough to show a clean profile against a background of pure black.

The face is modelled with restraint — a brow, the bridge of the nose, a set mouth, the eye rendered as a single dark almond with a small catchlight. Close-cropped hair is worked in short even strokes that follow the curve of the skull.

The earring is the reason to look twice. A large carved disc hangs from a stretched lobe, its surface incised with a fine radiating pattern and lit hard enough to read as bone or ivory against the dark skin and darker background. It is, by a wide margin, the brightest and most detailed passage in the drawing.

Below, a woven wrap crosses the shoulder in broad striped bands, with a scatter of small punched or beaded marks worked into the fabric near the shoulder blade. The wrap catches almost as much light as the earring, so the two together carry the lower half of the composition while the face stays quieter above them.

Everything behind her is unbroken black. No setting, no horizon, nothing to place her anywhere — only the profile, the ornament, and the wrap.

Charcoal suits this kind of drawing precisely because it can hold true black without going flat, and because the transition from that black into the lit disc of the earring is where all of the drawing’s tension sits.

It suits a study, a hallway, a reception or a collector’s wall.

Original charcoal on paper, signed by the artist. Supplied mounted and framed under glass with a certificate of authenticity. One of a kind — no reproductions of this drawing are sold.

Specifications:

• Subject: Portrait with Lip Plate
• Medium:  Charcoal on 300 GSM paper
• Genre: Portrait realism
• Type: Original, one of a kind
• Size: 26 x 32 in
• Orientation: Portrait
• Framing:  Mounted, framed under glass
• Signed: Yes, by the artist
• Included: Certificate of authenticity