Welcome to Episode 56. This week I'm talking to Josh Lancaster. Josh paints the places and buildings New Zealanders know and love.  "I do this by trying to capture the essence of a familiar place" says Josh " be it someone’s dairy, beach, view, flat, island, road, takeaway shop, family bach or simply just the memory of one. These are the places we cherish - the iconic moments that make up who we are. They are an agent for fond memories, stories, feelings. Collectively we love these places for what they remind us of – they connect us." In 2015 Josh made the decision to leave a highly successful career in advertising to follow his dream of being an artist and is now a full time painter living in the Hawkes Bay with his 3 sons Lennox, Archie and Spike.We have a great (long!) chat about the intricacies of a creative career in advertising, how he made the challenging shift to becoming a full time artist, the NZ artists who inspire him, his connection to places, buildings, text and branding and why he doesn't like to add people to his paintings.  https://www.facebook.com/joshlancasterpaintings About your host: https://www.instagram.com/creative_matters/Mandy Jakich is the Founder and CEO of Creative Matters, an award winning business providing creative, educational opportunities to enrich the lives of our children, educators, artists and community. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/She is a practising artist www.amandajakich.co.nz and a teacher, with more than 30 years teaching in various capacities at primary and intermediate schools across Auckland NZ and as an art educator at Auckland Art Gallery.As well as this podcast, Creative Matters  facilitate Professional Development visual arts courses for primary teachers, visual art creative workshops and experiences for children and public art projects and creative opportunities  in the community.Ngā mihi, thanks for listening!See the artist's work on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blog You can follow us for updates on https://www.instagram.com/creativematterspodcast/ Please rate and review our show to help others find us https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/creative-matters/id1561034043