Held By The Wild

Finding beauty in the ordinary.

Hello, I'm Eloise (Ellie) Forster, the artist behind Held By The Wild.

I'm also an emergency nurse.

For nearly two decades I've worked in emergency departments, caring for people on some of the hardest days of their lives. It's a privilege I'll never take for granted, but it's also a world that moves quickly, asks a lot of your heart, and reminds you just how precious ordinary moments really are.

I don't paint because I'm trying to escape the world.

I paint because it helps me see it more clearly.

Painting and drawing slows everything down.

It invites me to notice the tiny things that are so easily missed. Light through the trees. Wildflowers growing beside a footpath. The texture of old bark. A weathered fence. The way colour can completely change the feeling of a room.

Nature has always been where my nervous system finds its way home.

As the founder of Mantra & Moss, I've spent years exploring the connection between nature, creativity and the nervous system. Held By The Wild is where those ideas come to life. It isn't separate from my work. It's the practical expression of it.

Being diagnosed with ADHD and ASD later in life helped me understand something I'd always felt but could never explain.

Art isn't simply something I love to do.

It's how I regulate.

It's how I organise a busy mind, process emotion, reconnect with myself and return to a sense of steadiness after the noise of everyday life.

Most of my paintings begin long before I pick up a brush.

They begin while wandering along a beach collecting shells.

Walking beneath gum trees with my golden retriever, Lenny.

Stopping to admire wildflowers growing where nobody expected them to.

Or simply noticing the colours that so many of us hurry straight past.

I've realised that inspiration rarely arrives when I'm searching for it.

It finds me when I slow down enough to notice.

That is the heart of Held By The Wild.

Every artwork carries a quiet invitation to do the same.

If you've looked closely, you may have noticed that almost every painting contains a tiny doorway or window.

That isn't accidental.

To me, doorways represent possibility.

Windows remind us that even when life feels uncertain, there's always another perspective waiting to be discovered.

They're gentle reminders that hope often arrives through the smallest openings.

My hope is that my artwork does more than decorate a wall.

I hope it brings warmth into your home.

Starts conversations.

Helps your shoulders drop after a long day.

Makes you smile every time you walk past it.

Or simply reminds you that beauty has always been hiding in ordinary places.

Every original painting is created by me in Melbourne and professionally reproduced as museum-quality giclée prints using archival inks on carefully selected fine art papers. Each print is produced to honour the colour, texture and character of the original artwork and is carefully rolled and shipped in a protective tube, ready for framing and enjoyed for many years.

Thank you for finding your way here.

Whether you've arrived because one painting caught your eye, you're looking for something special for your home, or you're simply curious about the person behind the brush, I'm so grateful you're here.

The world has always moved a little too quickly for me.

Painting is how I slow it down.

And if my work encourages you to pause for even a moment, then it has already done exactly what I hoped it would.

Welcome to Held By The Wild.

I'm so glad you found your way here.