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Shug Avery from The Color Purple
I painted this as an entry to Season 7 of Iron Painter over at Wyrd Games. The theme for that round was the ‘color purple’. I took it literally and did some research - re-watching the movie and reading about the book and its author. (I’d have reread the book if I’d had the time!) This sculpt reminded me of one of the major characters, Sugar 'Shug' Avery, a gin joint singer. She is a catalyst for a lot of the events in the movie, and is the character that utters the title line, saying that she thinks it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple and don't stop to notice it. I sculpted shoes onto the figure, and added the headdress with brass-etched leaves to increase the resemblance to the movie character. The elements in the vignette relate to several appearances of the character throughout the movie. The first time we 'see' Shug is in a flyer advertising one of her performances. On another occasion she serenades the main character while wearing a peacock headdress. Late in the movie, after speaking the title line, she sings at Harpo's bar, and presents the main character with a bouquet of purple flowers.
Posted: 25 Mar 2010
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