Tag Archives: 1980’s

“Third Time’s A Charm” a Tribute to Beetlejuice by Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole 🪲🧃

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Growing up, you could hear me saying his name quite often in hopes he would appear. My Dad even dressed up like him for Halloween one year when I was a kid, complete with a replicated, light-up tombstone he made for the front porch, which he sat next to while entertaining trick-or-treaters. Many, many moons later, I requested that he walk me down the aisle to the opening credits of the movie on my wedding day. It was not only special to us, but it was also a movie my husband and I bonded over when we were dating. Needless to say, this art piece has been on my art bucket list for a very long time. So, I turned up the juice with my drawing pencils, and I am very happy with what shook loose.

Although I had previously drawn Michael Keaton in a split face portrait of Batman, I had yet to draw him as the beloved bio-exorcist I grew up adoring. Keaton has brought so many iconic characters to life and is easily one of the most entertaining actors to watch. When planning this piece, it was crucial that it didn’t just depict Beetlejuice, but truly reflected my deep admiration for Keaton’s talent. I wanted the artwork to radiate the nostalgia of that specific era, honoring the actor during a peak time in his career that defined so much of my childhood.

Well now, “IT’S SHOWTIME!” and I am incredibly excited to finally share this completed pencil and chalk pastel piece with my collectors. So say it once, say it twice, this is “Third Time’s A Charm”…

For my art collectors who love a little ghost with the most, I have made-to-order prints in my Etsy shop. Apply coupon code NICEFNMODEL at checkout to summon a 10% discount off your order! 🪲🧃

Canvas prints are currently in production with my printer for my art collectors to see in person and purchase at a discounted price* at Closet Collectibles (in Crete, IL.) and will be available once they arrive and I make my next art drop.

New to my work? Be sure to check out the other portraits I have masterminded on the Spitting Image page of my portfolio website!

Stay Strange & Magical ✨
LDG Nicole

*Read more about my “never mass produced” creative process and in store discounted art prices here

Crow & Calico Tavern Displays Living Dead Girl Nicole’s Pee Wee Art!

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As you may recall the first sale I made from my booth at Crow & Calico’s Unruly Art Market was from Loren, the location owner. He purchased my It’s Gonna Be That Kind Of Morning, Pee Wee Herman canvas print and told me he planned to hang it in the bar.

Well after a number of intense and dangerous storms hitting our area week after week, we finally had some beautiful days this past weekend. On Sunday my husband pulled out his Trans Am and we took a ride to the cemetery to visit my Uncle’s grave, and as anyone knows its never easy celebrating the life of someone you hold so dear that is no longer with us. So Frank decided to surprise me and as we were pulling out of the cemetery he told me we were gonna take a little longer of a drive. I realized as we got closer that he was taking me to Crow & Calico. He knew I needed a much needed kitty fix from Whiskey and to cheers a drink in honor of my Uncle’s birthday.

When we went into the bar Frank pointed with excitement and said “Look! It’s your Pee Wee!” and low and behold there it was on display!

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t totally geeking out when I saw it hanging on the wall in there. I mean I know Loren told me he planned on hanging it in the bar, but to actually see it on display really brightened my day and I am truly grateful for yet another art collector that sees something special in my work.

So please if you are in the Midwest be sure to pay the Crow & Calico Tavern a visit. It’s ran by the nicest and most creative people you will ever meet and they hold so many unique events and markets there. It’s an absolute gem of a place to discover.

And if you want a canvas print of this piece for your own be sure to shop online via my Etsy shop or in person from my Cabinets of Curiosities at Closet Collectibles in Crete, IL. The shop is actually not that far from Crow & Calico so you can even make a little adventure out of it by visiting and supporting two incredible spots that support me as an artist. Be sure to tell them both that Living Dead Girl Nicole sent ya!

And if you are new here, be sure to check out this photo from Crown & Calico alongside many of the other happy art collector photos and video submissions that are featured on the Freaky Fanatics page of my portfolio website. Want to be added? Then be sure to take photos or videos of yourself rocking, displaying, or even gifting my art and contact me to be featured!

Stay Strange & Magical ✨
LDG Nicole

Drippings: Showtime Synergy!

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meThank 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….

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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.

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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