Rainbow Socks 

Julie Bell's painting, Rainbow Socks, presents a seated figure amidst a textured and colourful interior, yielding a space where realism meets the fantastical. The composition is anchored by the sitter's frontal pose, her gaze direct, while the surrounding environment dissolves into swirls of pigment. Bell's brushwork is vital here. Note how the distinct strokes build up layers of colour and texture. These painterly gestures contribute a tactile quality and destabilize a conventional representational space. The rainbow socks introduce a sign, a play between the mundane and the symbolic, evoking the semiotic potential of everyday objects. The winged zebra-like figure perched above seems to be a cultural code, creating a personal mythology. By combining traditional portraiture with elements of surrealism, the painting challenges fixed meanings. The artwork becomes a site where the real and the imagined converge, inviting viewers to interpret the interplay between form, colour, and symbolic content.