Iris
Iris was a messenger goddess and the goddess of rainbows. She was imagined by the Greeks to leave the rainbow behind her as she flew around to deliver messages. She’s in "the Iliad" and other popular stories, although there is no exact mythological reference here. I was just interested in depicting the character of her. Rather than to be flying around trailing a rainbow behind her, I opted for this view of her sitting on a cloud waiting on a storm to pass. In her hand is the message that she is delivering.I wanted to make her colorful, which, of course, was the fun of painting her. The rainbow colored striped dress seemed obvious enough, but multicolored hair seemed a bit of a problem. The solution was suggested by the thought of a girl named Iris that I had known in Kansas City, who waited tables at the cafe. This Iris wore dreadlocks, and that influenced me to divide my goddess’s hair into dreadlocks, which could then be separately colored to, again, suggest a rainbow.