Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Josh Clare. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Josh, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I’m so grateful to be an artist. I love it, and I thank God every day that He’s given me this chance. But the other day I had an experience that really made me think, it’s something I don’t want to ever forget and it’s an experience I think will help others no matter what they do for a living. Here’s the long version:

A couple weeks ago I towed a heavy dump trailer loaded to the top with scrap metal to the local recycling center only to find they were closed on Saturday. The next nearest place was out in the boonies but I didn’t have another option. It was a really small outfit, a ma and pa salvage yard if I’d ever seen it. The day before we’d had a huge snowstorm and it was melting so there was six inches of mud everywhere you looked and it was cold. I pulled onto the scale and around to the dump yard where an excessively normal looking man ran up and told me where he wanted me to back in. I missed the mark by about three yards and had to pull precariously through he muddy mess to try again while a line of five or six trucks waited for me.
But NONE of this seemed to bother this guy at all. He was out there in the cold, up to the top of his boots in mud, working at a junk yard, on a Saturday, with a guy who couldn’t back a trailer up and a line of customers anxious to get on with their day—and he was HAPPY. He wasn’t just okay with things, I’m telling you he was cheerful. He was stoked when I finally got backed up fairly close to where he needed me and kindly showed me how to get out of there without getting stuck or jackknifing the trailer.

I thought about that guy the whole way home. I thought about how many folks in his shoes would’ve acted like he had. How many of us would’ve been grateful, or cheerful, or happy out there in that cold muddy junkyard on a Saturday, and even now thinking about him just about brings me to tears.

That guy changed my life.

The reason I paint, what I want more than anything as an artist, is to make paintings that are so full of light that they change others for good. The guy at the salvage yard that day taught me that artists aren’t the only ones with the opportunity to do that. Sure being an artist can be meaningful, but so can being a cashier at Walmart. What matters is becoming a man or a woman who is filled with light—that’s why we’re here. Men and women who are full of light change the world for good—no matter what the ‘do’ for a living.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m an artist. A creator. I work in oil and I paint landscapes, portraits, still life, figures–all the things.

I want to make beautiful paintings. I want it so bad. Beautiful paintings, like beautiful movies and books and plays and poems, are so much more than merely nice-looking or nice-sounding. Truly beautiful things are beautiful inside and out. They feel true, and good, and right. Think about how your favorite music, or books, or movies make you feel. That’s what I’m after. That’s why I paint.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Support the good–the beautiful. Go to beautiful movies, read beautiful books, look at beautiful paintings. Seek diligently, search relentlessly for things that are good and truly beautiful. Don’t settle for mediocrity, or for anything that’s ugly or mean.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Connection. Connecting to God, the creator of all things as I strive to see more like him and feel more like him and be more like Him. Connecting to other people as we find joy in beauty together. That feeling of unity of oneness that can come when you truly see another person or are seen by them. Connection.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joshclare.com
• Instagram: @jclareart

Image Credits

all images copyright Josh Clare