Back Bone: KeepItHandmade Auction Items Revealed

I created this little collage showcasing the items I will have up for bid for the Instagram Artist Auction taking place tomorrow at @keepithandmade. All of these items have been revealed on their page so go check them out and give the listings some love and shares while you wait for the auction to open.

This Artist Auction is a great opportunity for you to stay home and still get to shop! But this time you will be helping all the artists/vendors/small businesses that are participating. When the auction opens tomorrow at 7pm CST just visit the @keepithandmade Instagram page, go to the item you want and comment your bid amount. Be sure to read the caption description of every item for their starting bid and BIN details.

I would like to showcase 1 of my items as it is a special framed print of the art piece I drew and gifted to my dear friend Sid Haig. As most of you know Sid passed away last year so I have chosen to give all of my proceeds from this item to his wife, “my sista” Suzie. This will help her with the upcoming medical procedures and the expenses she needs help with now more than ever. So if you bid on any of my items please consider bidding on this one as the cause is very dear to my heart and I would really like to raise as much money as I can from this item to help her. You can find, like, share and bid on it HERE!

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Happy Bidding!

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

Spitting Image: Well Shit The Bed!

I finished an art piece last night that I am not ashamed to say … I am very proud of. I can’t help but look at it and smile because it came out just how I envisioned.  So here is a little background of how this piece was master minded.

The other day I was reminiscing over this specific photo…

….and more so the moment it was taken.  It is a special photo to me because it was taken by my husband Frank when I was reunited with Sid after years of being M.I.A from horror cons (and pretty much life) because of all my health scares, surgeries, hospital stays and recovery. Sid and Suzie were following my journey on GoFundMe along with the rest of my family and friends so he knew just how happy I was to be out and able to see him. He stopped me in the hall, pointed me out of the crowd and said “you’re out amongst the people!!!” and gave me a big hug. It was such a nice reminder of how far I had come with my health and how I was finally getting back to life and being out doing what I love and seeing the people I admire so much again.

Now as you all know from all my Sid related posts that this photo is not of the first time I met Sid.  I have been blessed with many memorable moments with both him and his wife Suzie and consider them friends.

And as you also know this is not the first time I have been inspired by Sid either.  I even dressed up as a female Captain Spaulding last year for Halloween and also have a Captain Spaulding tattoo. I also drew Sid and Suzie and mailed it out to them as a surprise gift when they got married back in 2007.

But the first time I drew him was back in 2004. Rob Zombie’s old website had a very active message forum and they posted they were looking for House of 1000 Corpses art for a fan based book. I immediately got to work at drawing Sid as Captain Spaulding and Howdy Folks was created. I remember being so pumped that I actually finished it in only a few days! The sad thing is I dropped the piece in the mail and it has never been seen again. The book never happened and despite including a self addressed stamped envelope and a letter saying to please return it if it was not selected… it is still unknown what ever happened to it. There are 2 prints ever made of the piece and Sid and myself are the owner of them. So I guess that makes the prints that much more special. But with gifting out so many of my originals to celebs that I admire and Sid being so much more closer to my heart, I wanted to give him an original to replace the one I was never able to give him.

Since my split face portraits give me more of a challenge and allow me to be more creative, I decided to to do a new one that reflects his fun personality and why I love him and his Captain Spaulding character so much.  I couldn’t help but call it “Well Shit The Bed!” because it’ a fun joke about the first time we met and my screen name on his site.

I already emailed it to Sid and can not wait to see him again to give it to him and see his reaction.

For those of you that admire Sid as well you can purchase prints and shirts of the piece in my Etsy Shop!

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole

Creature Feature: 500 To 1 on Sheri Moon Zombie’s Website

In May I had the honor of having Sheri Moon Zombie post my Tasty portrait on her website and social media pages. I decided to send her my latest 500 To 1 piece that I just finished last night. Woke up this morning to see she has featured it and even referred to me as one of her “fav fans” 🙂

Here are screen shots of it on her site and social media pages. Please click on them to be brought to the page and show my work as well as Sheri some love for sharing it with her followers.

Stay Spooky!
LDG Nicole