Freaky Fanatics: Emily and Gabby!

Been having a rough couple of weeks with our cat Ichabod being sick and these 2 Freaky Fanatic photo submissions helped brighten up my days!

First is from Emily who commissioned me to make her a poster sized version of my “It’s Showtime Synergy” painting. It came out to be 48″ x 36″ which is the largest print I have done so far of my work. When she contacted me to make the poster she had a vision in mind. She wanted to make “corn hole” bean bag game boards. Jem vs Pizzazz. When she finished them she sent me a photo. She said her and her friends love them. So do I . How cool are these!!?? I want to play!! A shout out to MinuteMan Press in Frankfort for doing an incredible job printing this for me!

Next up is a photo I received from my customer Cristie who purchased one of my “Penny Furter” prints for her daughter. Along with the photo came this message…

“This is a picture of my 13 year old daughter, Gabby, with her Penny Furter picture. She is a fan of both movies and Tim Curry, so this is perfect! We framed it and she has it hanging in her room above her bed. Thank you so much! She loves it!”

I am truly honored. Not only was the piece purchased to give as a special gift but the recipient loves it so much she has it proudly displayed above her bed. Thank you Cristie and Gabby. You ladies rock!

See these photos along with my other Freaky Fanatics on my official portfolio website! And don’t forget to send in your photos so you can be featured as a Freaky Fanatic as well! Every time I receive one it inspires me to create even more! So please keep em coming and I promise to keep creating!

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole

Drippings: Painting Prints Now Available

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am now offering prints of my “Be Wise. Be Brave. Be Tricky.” and “It’s Showtime Synergy” paintings in my Etsy shop! T-Shirts coming soon so stay tuned.

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole

Happy Beautiful Freaks Fest!

Today marks the beginning of Beautiful Freaks Fest! An online celebration of all the beautiful freaky people out there and the things that they love. It probably comes at no surprise to most of you that I would take part in this. In the words of Lydia Deetz “I myself am strange and unusual”. Which is why I decided to use this opportunity to give you a little background on myself and my art.

I have been doing art since I was a young batling. The minute I was able to pick up a crayon I knew this was what I was meant to do. CREATE! When I wasn’t religiously watching Labyrinth  I was using markers to make my Barbie’s look “different” and entering coloring contests to win tickets to the circus. I also always took in anything my Dad would teach me when it came to art. That is why my coloring contest entries actually had shading (those other kids didn’t stand a chance ha ha).

When I was given an assignment in school I always ended up doing something different then everyone else. When I was in the 5th grade we had to do a drawing along with a small essay about a bird. I chose an owl. Most likely influenced by my Mom (who had passed away) and loved them and had statues and macrame versions of them all over our house. I will never forget when they hung all the drawings up in the hall for the parent teacher conference. Here were all these beautiful, colorful birds drawn perched on branches and then there was mine….  an owl in mid flight with a mouse captured in its talon. And to me it was just as beautiful if not more so then the others. I also remember the parents pointing mine out. Maybe they liked it maybe they didn’t but I felt such satisfaction knowing mine stood out from the rest and it just came naturally to me. I have thrived for that feeling ever since.

Growing up and even as an adult I continue(d) to express myself in all aspects of life from my own personal fashion sense (if people don’t like crazy colored hair, tattoos and horror t-shirts that’s on them) to my artwork. My favorite quote is “Be yourself everyone else is already taken” (Oscar Wilde). If something I do suddenly becomes trendy I tend to stop and move on to the next thing. But I never let anyone stop me from being me. I find beauty in the dark, spooky and mythical. If something is odd or macabre I am usually drawn to it. Same goes for fairies and other fantasy creatures. Aspects of these things tend to come through in my creations as an extension of myself. I always tell people I grew up to be a mixture of my 2 childhood idols….Elvira and Jem. “Give me spooky and creepy with a side of glitter and glam… that’s me!” I find a lot of that comes out in my Dead Girl Decay accessories

People often ask me how the name Living Dead Girl Nicole started as my signature artist name. Some of my art online says my maiden name of Nicole Birmingham, my married name of Nicole Garcia and then there is of course Living Dead Girl Nicole. This name stuck with me thanks to my love for horror and all things that rock. What started as an online screen name due for my admiration of Rob Zombie stuck with me when people started to associate my artwork with the name as well. I found it rather fitting as Rob Zombie had always been someone that inspired me as an artist. I could relate to
his work and it always reminded me that it’s ok to break out of your shell and to continue doing what I love no matter how dark the genre is. If people wanted to associate me and my artwork in that way then I was honored to be known by it and still am.

I am also honored to have so many Freaky Fanatics and people who follow my work. Just the other day my friend posted this photo on Instagram. Its of his zombie welding helmet with my logo sticker on it. The caption says “represent”!

Having the support of people like this is what makes me keep creating! It means you love what I do and are proud to embrace the beautiful freaks that you are!

AND to celebrate just that here is a coupon code! Just put in code BEAUTIFULFREAKS17 at check out in my Etsy shop and watch 13% get slashed off your orders (of $5 or more)! This code is only good during the Beautiful Freaks Fest so make sure to place your orders before Monday!

And to end this post with a rocking bang here is my girl Kimberly Freeman of One Eyed Doll singing a song that should be this event’s anthem! When your done rocking out take a click over to Little Gothic Horrors blog page to see all the other blogs participating in the Beautiful Freaks Fest and go visit their pages! Don’t forget to show some comment love on their posts too! Us freaks need to unite 😉

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole

Drippings: Showtime Synergy!

Thank you to my parents for making it possible for me to grow up in the 80’s! As you may have read in my artist bio or just from knowing me, I had 2 alter egos growing up… Elvira and Jem. Not only did I dress up as both of them at some point for Halloween when I was little, but I really feel they formed me into the creepy yet colorful woman I am today. I look at some of the things I wear, the things I am drawn to and it really speaks to who really drew me in when I was younger (no pun intended) and inspired a lot of what I am into even today as an adult…….

Rocking my horror shirts with my multi-colored hair……a bit of goth with a bit of neon….a bit of black with a splash of glitter or zebra print. Is that a bow with blood splatter on it? Is that a hot pink dress covered in bats????…… Yep that’s me!

So with that I decided it was long over due for me to stop passing up the blank piece of canvas I have sitting in my art room and finally do what I have been meaning to do to fill it. Needless to say my Saturday was “TRULY OUTRAGEOUS!”

Here is how it turned out when it was done….

Jem’s “special” earring, the middle 80’s geometric split and the white sparkle in both Jem and Pizzaz’s eyes were done with glitter paint. The same paint I used as a kid to decorate my own t-shirts. I felt like it gave it that much more of a 80’s/Jem feel.

I decided to call this piece “It’s Showtime Synergy!” and had fun this morning taking a photo of it next to the only things I still have left of what use to me my enormous Jem collection as a kid.

This includes the poster that came in the box with one of my many dolls. I have my Dad to thank for that being in one piece and my brother for rescuing it for me. My Dad use to know how much I loved the Jem posters that came in the box so he would put them on poster board and seal them with cellophane before we would hang them on my walls.

My brother found it a few years back in my Grandparent’s basement. They had passed away and the family was going through their stuff before they sold their house. It was there because I had a time in my life when I had to live with them. It was one of those things I had to leave behind when I had to make a sudden move from their home (depressing story about my life I won’t get into here) and never looked back. He said he saw it and immediately grabbed it and said “I KNOW that is Nic’s!!”

The Pizazz doll is the only doll I was able to grab during that sudden move as well. I was a freshman in high school but I still grabbed her and stuffed her in my suitcase. A reminder of a better more colorful time of my childhood before all the chaos took it over. She sits in my curio cabinet as a reminder that not all of my childhood was lost.

My husband and I are going to look for a cheap frame for it and paint it neon (of course)! Then I am going to hang it in my art room amongst all the other fun things that inspire me. Since I am already getting a lot of feedback on it, I plan on taking the painting to Kinko’s to get a large scan done of it so I can offer prints. Once available I will post an update to let everyone know! Maybe I will even glitter paint the prints on request! How fun would that be?!

See more of my paintings on the Drippings page of my official portfolio website. You can also see various other things I have painted on the Remains page!

Stay Spooky and Outrageous!
LDG Nicole