Sketching at the Museum Objects that show unusual centers of gravity

I was very fortunate to draw again at the Luce Foundation last Tuesday.  The assignment was challenging...it was to draw sculptures that show concepts relating to balance.  After last week, I had decided I would focus on work that relates to Nam June Paik's archives for the time being, but I wasn't sure I could find something.  

I was delighted to see that there are some exquisite little figurines in the case devoted to Paik's archives, and they were perfect for this exercise.  They are ceramic and, as I understand it, Paik collected these figurines for assembly into larger works. They are related to him because they were in his warehouse at the time of his death.  They are pretty small (maybe 10"), and are behind glass, but were fun to sketch.  I did three fairly quick sketches.  The one above demonstrates that, if one leg juts out, you need an opposite arm and maybe a little head action to counterbalance it.   

This next sketch shows that the leaning back and protecting with your arms pose needed to be counterbalanced with a strong thrust of the front leg:

I might do him again because his expression was so severe!  I would like to capture that.

The next one was actually the first I did, and I think I missed the mark.  

It is very dramatic, and the actual figurine shows that you have to have a strong leg and a front arm out if you are going to balance on one leg with your back arm in the air.  I may have overdone it, so may do this guy again.    I am not sure it would work the way I portrayed it.  The drape behind his standing leg does add some weight, but probably not enough to make the center of gravity actually work in my drawing.  It does work in the figurine.  This is why I keep trying!

It is fun to do these assignments and to challenge my sketching skills..not to mention learning about balance!