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    Art Nurture: The Simple Guide to Cultivating Your Creativity
    Art Nurture: The Simple Guide to Cultivating Your Creativity
    Art Nurture: The Simple Guide to Cultivating Your Creativity
    Ebook137 pages3 hours

    Art Nurture: The Simple Guide to Cultivating Your Creativity

    By Court McCracken

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    About this ebook

    Would you like to infuse more passion, inspiration, and creativity into your daily life?

    You possess the seed of creativity. Cultivating your creativity is as simple and natural a process as nurturing a seed to grow. You can engage the simple tools, found in this book, to create a beautiful, passionate, and purposeful existence.

    You can live life with the soul of an artist.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateOct 14, 2013
    ISBN9781628475982
    Art Nurture: The Simple Guide to Cultivating Your Creativity

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      Book preview

      Art Nurture - Court McCracken

      ISBN 978-1-62847-598-2

      Copyright © 2013 by Court McCracken

      All rights reserved

      artnurture.com

      This book is dedicated to my father.

      He taught me it was beautiful to dream and that thinking outside of the box was a lot of fun.

      To this day, I continue to paint on the easel he gave me when I was six.

      Acknowledgements

      Special Thanks to my Kickstarter Backers!

      You all brought me to tears with your support and belief in this project. I am deeply grateful to you all.

      Kirsten Stolle, Stacie Lindner, James Leslie Miller, Sara Truitt, Jocelyn Young, AC Baker, Walker, Hannah Miller, William Bodnar, Roger McCracken, Kathey, Shonna Campbell, Kathryn Hall, Sara Nichols, Jenna Yarosh, Ginger Huebner, Kyle Samples, Tim Mills, Miranda Wildman Efird, Tricia, Rock Eblen, Drew Reisinger, John, Sheila Kent, Terry Van Duyn, Brian Burns, Joelle Diepenbrock, Mountain Feist, The Fritz, Stephanie Anderson, Jennifer Scarborough, Johanna Hagarty, Kristalyn Bunyan, Amanda Orders, Emily, Ben Tyson, Jennifer Gilarowski, Nancy Coffman, Melody Reed, Joy Goetz, Rachel Wingo, Stephanie Sorrell, Emma Berger-Singer, Dwayne Parton, Sarah Reiff, Terry Ferree, Sandra Morgan, Mark Romano, Marc Stephen Mullinax, Jessica Raczka, Heidi Howard, Elizabeth Moreno, Ashley Orders, Betty C. Reiff, Alison Pettigrew, Heather Barham, Dan Evans, Ben Newton, Shawn Henderson, Sara Surabian, Justin Carpenter, Joy Boatwright, Gail King, Mary Negley, Joshua Coffman, Chip Oglesby, Melanie Kool, Peggi K Lorenz, Laura Lynch, Andrew Taylor, Erin Casey, Justin Smith, Jesse Iaquinto, Sharon McRorie, Camille Milloer, Chris Cole, Sarah Hummel, Scott Lowrey, Nancy Kool, Shawna Lee Marinello, Andrea Womack Bridges, Blake Windsor, Susan Dufon, Will McCracken, Matthew, Ashley Coffman Loureiro, Joan Hoffman, Meg Winkler, Bryan, Christine Plassman, Mary Lyford, Loretta

      Special Thanks to the following crew for their hard work helping this project become a reality.

      Laura Boffa for her editing services.

      Taylor Hellhake for creating the Kickstarter video.

      James Leslie Miller of gorillabunny for working with me to create the vision of this book with graphic design, layout and beautiful fonts.

      Drew DePorter for his constant feedback and assistance on all of my projects, whilst using his expertise and skills as a designer and being an overall wonderful studio mate.

      Emma Berger-Singer & Rand Harcz, for their hard work creating the hand made screen-printed posters.

      There are so many more people who I need to name.

      To every single person who has asked me, How’s the book going? I give you a deep and heart-felt, Thank you. The simple act of asking me what was going on with my project was incredibly encouraging as I embarked upon this journey.

      To all of the coffee shops, park benches and barstools I sat in while writing and editing: I sat there because the environment was inspiring, so whoever was a part of creating those spaces, thank you.

      To all of my friends, family, and the beautiful community of Asheville, you all have changed my life and helped me to nurture my own art. I hope to give you that same beautiful inspiration right back.

      In deep gratitude,

      Court

      A NOTE TO THE READER

      Art Nurture is an approach to enjoying life, living it fully, and living it beautifully.

      The main purpose of the Art Nurture Journey is that you live life with the soul of an artist.

      What does that mean?

      Artists are those who make choices with three main considerations: passion, purpose & intention.

      Passion — Is the fire, the love

      Purpose — Is the reason or the meaning

      Intention — Is where it is put into action

      When you find these three things present in what you are doing, you have found your art. This art is not only for you, but for you to share with the world as well. You may have many ‘arts’ throughout your life, but the greatest art is that of living.

      I hope you enjoy reading this book, as I seek to share with you the simple ways I have found to connect with creativity. When we connect to our creative energy we are able to live with passion, purpose, and intention. It is at that time, we realize, we are truly living life with the soul of an artist.

      May you nurture your creativity, your art, yourself, and share it with others as well. The world needs you to live with the soul of an artist. We need you to be your awesome, amazing, and unique self; fully alive and fully realized. Give us the good stuff!

      Sincerely.

      Court McCracken

      Section I

      Beginning Your

      Art Nurture Journey

      In order to have a real relationship with our creativity, we must take the time and care to cultivate it.

      
— Julia Cameron,

      Author of The Artist’s Way

      What is the Art Nurture Journey?

      The Art Nurture Journey is about realizing the creativity that you already possess. The fact is that creativity is a seriously amazing part of being a human that is alive on this earth! Not only that, but creativity is something we can cultivate in our lives. There are practical and tangible things we can all do to cultivate our creativity and find and nurture our own unique art. That is the Art Nurture journey.

      It is as simple as nurturing a plant to grow, perhaps at times as frustrating; watching, watering and wondering, and in the end, just as rewarding.

      What will you find in this Simple Guide to Cultivating Your Creativity?

      In this guide, we will examine how the cultivation of our creativity parallels the basic stages of seed germination as an organic and natural process.

      We will begin with The Seed of Creativity that we each posses, it’s nature and how it functions. We will discuss new definitions of creativity and explore the diversity of the Seed of Creativity as it presents itself in each of us uniquely. Then we will move on to Shedding our Outer Layers to reveal our inner potential just as the seed must soak moisture from the soil to

      shed its outer husk and reveal its inner potential. We will talk about how we developed our Outer Layers that keep us from cultivating our creativity and how to rid ourselves of them in a healthy way.

      Taking Root is the next step, as we spend time in the rich and fertile creative soil we will cultivate in our lives and give ourselves a foundation. When we are strongly rooted in ourselves it is easier to continue on the creative journey. Breaking Ground is next, that first major push of creative energy where we see tangible results of creativity in our lives. We will finish up with how we will continue Growing Up and creating a Sustainable creative practice over the course of our lives.

      Through each of these stages, I will not only be discussing their nature and functioning in our lives, but I will also be asking you to actively follow along through journaling, introspection and reflection, and calling you to act on those findings. Throughout the process we will be actively cultivating our creativity

      How did Art Nurture begin?

      Art Nurture was born out of a time in my life when I had drastically fallen away from my creative self. My creative spark was a dull memory and I wondered if

      I would get back to my dream of being a professional artist and a teacher.

      To share with you my Art Nurture Journey, I should give you a brief sketch of my life up to this point.

      I was definitely encouraged in my creativity from a young age. My father bought me a beautiful, wooden A-frame easel when I was 5 or 6. It is the easel I still use to paint on today. It was set up near a bookshelf, along with a drafting table and stool I had to climb up to sit on, I was ready to paint and draw for hours. It was my first studio. Not only did I paint and draw from a young age, but I also enjoyed carving and shaping cardboard into all kinds of things. Forts, homes for my toys, and a large TV in which you could perform your very own TV shows. There was even a cardboard remote control and a cardboard TV guide with the shows I had rehearsed for people to call out while they simultaneously pushed the ‘button’ on the cardboard remote (I was not into electronics, so this was good enough for me). For a time, I also became obsessed with jewelry making and my dad proudly sported a hot pink flower bead necklace on a long cord, wearing it over his tie.

      My dad was a creative entrepreneur and thus I was aware of the joys

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