Spitting Image: I Am The Somebody. I’m The Fire.

When invited to go to a 60’s/70’s themed birthday party I didn’t just show up in the requested themed attire, but in the usual Nicole fashion I took it a step further and jumped at the opportunity to show up dressed as my fairy goddess mother (that’s what I call her)… Stevie Nicks. So needless to say I am a big fan of Fleetwood Mac and when I heard Amazon was making a tv show based partially on Fleetwood Mac fan fiction by writer Taylor Jenkins Reid my interest was highly peaked.

I actually counted down the days until Daisy Jones & The Six was streaming on Prime and when the episodes were released I made my husband watch “my rock and roll soap opera” with me every Friday. I’m glad I did because I fell in love with everything about it. The writer’s backstory of the musical influences that inspired the storyline was intriguing (which was much more than Fleetwood Mac and brought me back to the days of helping manage my husband’s band). The talented actors were perfectly casted and incredibly talented (did you know they had to learn how to play music as well as performing together as a band during the pandemic). The fashion was what my 70’s dreams are made of (I love me some bell bottoms, fur edged jackets, and flowing kimonos) and I still can’t stop playing the Aurora album on repeat (they used some heavy hitter song writers to make it as authentic as possible) or singing and humming the songs around the house (my neighbors either love me or hate me at this point). Let Me Down Easy is actually playing on my Mac right now as I type this.

I was excited and sad at the same time the week of the final episode. I wanted to know how they would end it but didn’t want it to end at the same time. To say I have been in engulfed in Daisy Jones & The Six would be an understatement and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Although I loved all the characters in the show I was very fascinated by Daisy Jone herself. Played by Riley Keough (granddaughter of Elvis Presley) I could not help but fall in love with her feisty character. Her struggle to believe in herself after being raised by a family who didn’t support her and her determination to follow her dreams and find true happiness pulled at my heart strings but also motivated me. I picked up my drawing pencils and put all my other projects on hold as soon as the inspiration struck and have been working on this piece ever since.

I call it “I Am The Somebody. I’m The Fire.” inspired by two different Daisy quotes that I feel sum up her journey. It was done in pencil and chalk pastels and I used references from various scenes and photo shoots Riley had done during her career but focused mainly on her look from the Aurora photo shoot episode (above).

I hope one day I will be graced with Riley’s presence and can gift her the original art piece and show her how much her talent has inspired my own. And although Daisy didn’t want to be anyones muse, I will never deny that she was indeed the “inspiration for my next big idea” and I could not be happier with the way it turned out.

If you are a Riley and Daisy fan, I have prints and made-to-order t-shirts featuring this art piece for sale in my online Etsy and Amazon shops and will also have prints available to purchase in store at Closet Collectibles in Crete, IL as soon as I do my next art drop off.

Want to see more of my portrait drawings? You can find them on the Spitting Image page of my portfolio website!

Stay Spooky & Magical!
LDG Nicole

Remains : The Pick Of Destiny For My Destiny

I hand sculpted and hand painted the “Pick of Destiny” from Tenacious D for my husband Frank as a little surprise for Valentine’s Day this year.

To make it more custom I sculpted it so when you flip it over it looks as though it formed and took over one of the Axe Man’s Bridge picks we had made when his band was still together. I put a small necklace ring on the top incase he wants to hang or display it.

Needless to say he was very happy when I gifted to him and I was super excited to be able to try my hands at more sculpting.

See this creation and more of my rocking creations on the Remains page of my portfolio website!

Stay Spooky & Magical,
LDG Nicole

Deadly Designs: Year 18’s Show Flyer

My nephew Michael is in the band Year 18 and they just booked their first gig. To help them out I designed them a flyer to help them spread the word.

If you live in the area come support the local rock scene! You can contact me for more information on tickets. If you are not familiar with the local rock scene, a piece of advice. Always buy pre-sale tickets from the band. This shows the venue that they can bring a crowd. In turn, this gets the band more shows.

See more of my Desktop Publishing work and the various ways I have used my art to support the rock scene on the Deadly Designs, Rocking Work and Back Bone pages of my portfolio website.

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