Nostr notes by J.D. MacLeod 🇨🇦

#ScribesAndMakers Sept. 22: Promotion day. Self or someone else. ...

2026-09-22T12:51:48Z

#ScribesAndMakers Sept. 22:
Promotion day. Self or someone else. Or both.

[sound of knuckles cracking] I am a mess, all over the place. Most of my life I have made comics and cartoons [comic books, comic strips, spot cartoons, illustrations, currently working on a graphic novel]. More recently I took up painting [acrylics, gouache, watercolour] and writing [novels, essays, but more recently I've felt the urge to investigate poetry and short stories]. And I used to play music and write songs. So yeah.

You can find tastes of a lot of those things at my site https://www.jdmacleod.com/

#ScribesAndMakers Sept. 19: "My mistake was..." doing ...

2026-09-19T13:55:05Z

#ScribesAndMakers Sept. 19:
"My mistake was..."

doing what everyone else did and what everyone said was the thing to do, instead of asking myself what I wanted and what mattered to me.

"when"?

2026-09-14T21:45:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…jlx7
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"when"?

#ScribesAndMakers Sept. 14: What's your favourite type of ...

2026-09-14T01:09:38Z

#ScribesAndMakers Sept. 14:
What's your favourite type of story setting?

Small-town, recent past. Dunno if I can explain why, but there was a definite click when I stumbled across it.

#ScribesAndMakers Aug. 29: At age 11, our TTMD guest answered ...

2026-08-29T11:51:22Z

#ScribesAndMakers Aug. 29:
At age 11, our TTMD guest answered 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' with 'Author.' Did you know what you wanted to be at 11?

I knew I wanted to be a cartoonist, but I didn't think I COULD be one. Because I really wanted to make comic BOOKS then [as opposed to strips]. And back then the comic book industry was centred in New York City, and it was an established truism that you had to live in New York to work in that business. And I didn't want to live there.

So I would tell people I wanted to be a "commercial artist". My understanding was that commercial artists lived and worked all over, so that at least seemed possible. And it felt as close to cartooning as I could get.

Took me years to figure out that "what I grew up to be" did not have to mean the same thing as "the job I grew up to have".

#scribesandmakers Aug. 26: Describe how it feels to be ...

2026-08-26T11:24:20Z

#scribesandmakers Aug. 26:
Describe how it feels to be "locked in" to your work.

It's the most surefire form of meditation that I know. When I'm working, then, no matter what else is going on in my life at the time, I'm not thinking about that. There's just me and the work. Even time itself doesn't exist.

I'm not even worrying about how the work is turning out, I'm just AWARE of it. If I see something that needs changing, I notice it without judgment and fix it without judgment.

#ScribesAndMakers - 24th July. What's something you feel ...

2026-07-24T11:09:47Z

#ScribesAndMakers - 24th July. What's something you feel you've become better at with your creative work this month?

Drawing freehand border lines with a Speedball A1 nib. Niche and geeky but there it is.

puffins are the best

2026-05-30T12:41:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…ynqc
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puffins are the best

#ink #doodles based on the #illustration work of #MiroslavSasek ...

2026-04-12T23:34:24Z

#ink #doodles based on the #illustration work of #MiroslavSasek -- trying to combine the #Sasek eye for telling details with the looseness I see in some of the #UrbanSketching work I've been enjoying in recent years.... also looking to see how to incorporate this sort of work into #cartooning

#art #drawing #architecture #MastoArt

When I was buying groceries the other day, I noticed that the ...

2025-06-24T13:36:39Z

When I was buying groceries the other day, I noticed that the cashier reminded me of an online friend I have known for years. And I got to thinking, what if my friend worked as a cashier at a grocery store? Customers would then see her, watch her scan items and pack them dutifully, hear her small pleasantries as they paid, and then leave and think no more about her. Nothing in that transaction would give them the slightest clue about her boundless creativity, her rich mind, her deep heart, all of which I have grown to admire and love. They would have no idea what an amazing person she is.

And then I wondered if perhaps my cashier today was in fact an amazing person and I simply had no idea. And now I am contemplating the notion that every person we see, that we pass by without a thought, might similarly amaze us with their depth and their wonder, if we only had the time and opportunity to learn them. I am left with a sense of being surrounded by invisible riches.

these are very fluid but not runny, they don't have the ...

2025-04-13T00:41:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…kr06
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these are very fluid but not runny, they don't have the toothpaste texture of most other acrylics -- Golden Fluid Acrylics are another option (but higher end)

My first time trying Deco Earth brand "reclaimed acrylic" ...

2025-04-12T19:13:00Z

My first time trying Deco Earth brand "reclaimed acrylic" paint -- claims to be more opaque and more matte finish than regular acrylic. The opaque is maybe a bit true but the matte finish is way true. It's a lot like working with #acrylic #gouache IMHO. Handles nice and I look forward to working with it again. (4x6 acrylic on canvas board) #art #painting #AnimalArt #dog #Dalmatian #MastoArt

French Canadian pea soup

2025-02-04T19:27:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…f3nv
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French Canadian pea soup

Here's a new pinned post for my relocated account! #art ...

2025-01-28T00:48:03Z

Here's a new pinned post for my relocated account! #art #painting #AcrylicPainting #AnimalArt #acrylics #MastoArt