Forrest Elliott is an international contemporary painter and mixed-media artist based in York, Maine. His practice explores color, form, and intuitive mark-making through painting, encaustic, found materials, and photography—creating work that invites quiet contemplation and emotional resonance.

Forrest's work is guided by what he calls the "golden thread"—a consistent weaving of color, shape, and gesture that connects his evolving body of work across mediums and scales. Whether creating large canvases, works on paper, or intimate encaustic pieces, his process is rooted in presence, allowing each work to authentically reflect his current creative season.

His work is represented by leading galleries throughout New England and held in private collections across the United States, Australia, and Asia. Recent acquisitions include the University of New Hampshire's Hamel Honors and Scholars College. His work has been featured in Studio Visit Magazine Issue 53 (Boston, MA), Apartment Therapy, and Maine Homes by Down East.

Forrest's practice is grounded in the belief that art and life are deeply interconnected—a commitment to presence that shapes both his studio work and broader creative ventures.

I make work because I need to be immersed in the process—to engage with materials in a way that observation alone cannot satisfy. My practice explores color, form, and intuitive mark-making through painting, encaustic, found materials, and photography. What connects these mediums is what I call the "golden thread"—a consistent weaving of color, shape, and gesture that runs through everything I create. This thread forms its own kind of family, each piece connected not by subject but by the presence that shaped it.

The physicality is essential: encaustic embeds created memories in wax, found materials bring their histories forward, paintings carry the evidence of each decision and experience. I'm building presence rather than documenting it—layer by layer, mark by mark. Each work emerges from attention to the moment it's made. Like an athlete, I research, train, and create rules to follow—experiencing wins and losses that teach me if I remain open to the possibilities. Art is my greatest teacher. When I'm ready, the door is always open. If not a door, a window.

The invention of it all is more honest, because I am the inventor.

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