Held Light
Oil and cold wax on linen · 48 × 60 in · 2026
New work · Detroit · 2026
Mara
Ellis
Paintings of memory, matter, and the light that stays.
Enter the collection ↓Current collection
“I paint what remains
after the moment leaves.”
Color arrives first. Then memory, shape, and the evidence of a hand moving slowly across the surface.
Selected works
Three ways
of remembering.
Original showroom artwork created for this private portfolio concept. Availability details are illustrative.
Artist statement
Making room
for what
cannot be said.
My work begins with fragments: a remembered coat, a horizon seen from a moving car, leaves pressed between pages and forgotten. I build each surface slowly, adding and removing until the image feels less illustrated than uncovered.
The paintings hold figure, landscape, and abstraction in the same breath. Their marks are evidence of revision—the beauty of arriving by changing one’s mind.
Inside the process ↓
Studio practice
Layer.
Listen.
Return.
- 01
Build the ground
Thin pigment, paper fibers, charcoal, and the first uncertain shape.
- 02
Find the tension
Cover what feels finished. Keep what continues to ask a question.
- 03
Leave the evidence
Scrapes, seams, and revisions remain visible as part of the final work.
For collector testimonials
Let the work
travel by word.
This private showroom demonstrates where genuine approved collector, curator, or client feedback would appear.
Reserved for an approved collector testimonial.
Collector name · Location
Testimonial placement✦Reserved for an approved collector testimonial.
Collector name · Location
Testimonial placement✦Reserved for an approved collector testimonial.
Collector name · Location
Testimonial placement✦Private inquiry preview
Begin with
a conversation.
This showroom form demonstrates a collector inquiry. Nothing entered here is transmitted or stored.