My newest art collector, Lydia, discovered my artwork after we connected over our artistic outlets of expression (give this girl a harp or piano and you won’t be disappointed) as well as our mutual pop-culture obsessions on LinkedIn. When I learned she also has a soft spot for Jeff Goldblum, it felt perfectly fitting to see an Etsy order come through from her for a canvas print of my “Insect Politics” split-face portrait of Brundlefly. And because we both share a deep love of 80s kids’ nostalgia, it made total sense that she would take the opportunity to snatch up one of my Limited Edition Totally 80’s sticker packs while I still had some in stock.
True to her generous spirit, Lydia didn’t just enjoy her new art privately, she shared the excitement by posting an unboxing video across her social media, snapping a great photo of her purchase, and even left a heartfelt 5-star Etsy review that absolutely made my day.
“I am a HUGE Jeff Goldblum fan and was thrilled with this beautiful art of Jeff and the Fly! The hand drawn stickers of Pee Wee, Labyrinth, Little Monsters are amazing with detail! Beautiful pieces of art and excited to add these to my 80s collection. 💕🙂” – Lydia B. on Etsy
It’s collectors like Lydia that remind me that those who really get my art will one day discover and love it as much as I did creating it. I am so honored to have my work on display in the happy space of her home filled with so much rad 80’s nostalgia!
If you’re new here, be sure to check out Lydia’s photo and video submissions featured alongside some of my other happy art collectors on the Freaky Fanatics page of my portfolio website.
And if you are looking for an extremely talented harpist and pianist, or an enthusiastic travel agent, be sure to connect with Lydia on Linkedin! She also has a travel vlog diary on Youtube, a Spotify channel for those looking to zen out to her music, and a totally tubular 80s themed TikTok for those who are feeling nostalgic! Find and support them all here!
Looking for some new art for your collection or to add some unique spark to a special space in your home? Shop my creations! And if you already have, be sure to take photos or a video of yourself rocking or displaying my artwork and contact me to be featured!
Recently I received a message from the incredibly talented Staci Layne Wilson. Yes, the same Staci Layne Wilson best known for being a powerhouse author, reporter, and filmmaker in the horror and rock genre worlds. Although Staci and I have never met in person, our paths have crossed numerous times over the years through the overlapping of online communities that inspire our work. So hearing from her was not unexpected, but her asking to do a special feature write up about me and my artwork for Women In Horror was quite a lovely surprise.
She asked if I would be open to a Q and A that would help her take a little deep dive into the unique inner world that shapes the wide range of art that I create, and knowing how talented and impactful Staci’s writing is, of corpse I said yes. She took the insights from our interview and transformed them into a write up that I am genuinely excited to share with all of you.
“Nicole Garcia doesn’t just create art, she resurrects it, corpsifies it, and occasionally sticks a dead rat in its mouth for good measure. Known professionally as Living Dead Girl Nicole, this multi-disciplinary artist has carved out her own delightfully twisted niche in the horror art world.” Read more here!
For those not familiar with Staci’s Women In Horror project, here is a snippet from their website to help you become familiar with their mission…
“Your destination for all things fierce, frightening, and female-driven in the genre space. From visionary directors crafting tomorrow’s nightmares to authors penning deliciously dark tales, we’re here to celebrate the women who make horror happen. Dive into our curated selection of films and books that put women at the center of the story—whether they’re wielding the camera, holding the pen, or haunting the frame. Explore exclusive interviews and profiles that shine a spotlight on both legendary icons and rising stars who are reshaping the landscape of horror. Whether you’re hunting for your next spine-chilling read, tracking upcoming releases, or rediscovering classic gems, you’ll find something here to make your skin crawl (in the best possible way). Welcome to the dark side—we’ve been expecting you.”
As you know, I am always eager to support my horror family, and it is a true honor to find myself featured alongside so many fierce and visionary women who keep the genre alive and thriving. I am endlessly grateful to Staci for giving my work this incredible spotlight, and to all of you who continue walking with me through this whimsical and macabre world of my creative journey.
Interested in featuring me and/or my artwork in your publication or online platform? Let’s chat!
So excited to share that I was asked to conjure up another handmade zombified picture frame for one of my art collectors. This time the request was for a 5″x7″ picture frame customized with decayed blue grey flesh and green eyes! 🧟♂️🖼🧟♀️
If you have horror con memories, Halloween party photos, or need a killer display piece for your gothic wedding or spooky business ventures, be sure to visit my Etsy shop and place your order to have one of these custom made just for you! They also make for great, one-of-a-kind gifts for the strange and unusual collectors in your life.
New to my work? Be sure to check out the other Undead Decor (and much more) that I have hand crafted and featured on my official portfolio website!
As excited as I was to type this up yesterday, I needed a little time to get back into reality mode and gather my thoughts after another killer artventure with my horror community fam at Flashback Weekend Chicago!
Frank and I started our Friday morning off by carefully loading 2 cart fulls of donated prizes and all our luggage into the truck and then ventured off to Rosemont.
For those of you that may not be aware, we have been attending Flashback Weekend since 2004 but I have been volunteering as the convention’s Prize Coordinator for the last few years. This means I am in charge of organizing and collaborating with various businesses, artists and vendors to collect merchandise prize sponsorship donations that are raffled off for the convention’s Ultimate VIP Cocktail Reception Party, held every year for Ultimate Ticket Holders and the celebrity guests. I collect, deliver, and set up the prize table at the event. I also market the sponsors by creating/maintaining the landing page, social media posts, and promotional flyers used to announce and market the prize sponsors online and at the event.
These are the 3 art pieces I chose to donate to the prizes this year. They included two oversized 16×20 canvas prints of Art and Victor (to be raffled off on their own) and one 8×12 canvas print of Freddy (to be raffled inside the Swag Bag of smaller prizes). All perfectly aligned with this years celebrity guests.
Despite there being a huge national sports collectors event taking place at the convention center next door, we were able to park in the hotel garage without any issues and were even able to check in early when we got there. A big difference from the stressfulness of last year which I think had a lot to do with the fact that there were no other big events taking place inside the hotel itself.
When we got there we unloaded and dragged all the carts and luggage to our room and then ventured off to get our badges at the registration booth, where we were greeted by the (always) amazing convention staff volunteers. We then hit up the dealer room to connect with some of the vendors who had prizes for me to pick up at their booths. Once we got those all back to our room safely, it was time to take everything in. Our first stop was to say hello to our very talented friend Chad Savage (Sinister Visions). I mean it just doesn’t feel like Flashback until we have this horror con family reunion.
After scoping out the amazing vendors and getting an idea on where everything was located, we went and got a bite to eat and had a few drinks at the hotel bar. Afterwards we got ready for a very exciting new event the convention was holding in the evening called Friday Night Frights Live. It was a fun on stage late night talk show hosted by local horror icon Svengoolie.
He interviewed horror legends, Robert Englund, Barbara Crampton, and Joe Dante and we got to hear so many great stories from all of them. They even had a musical guest who was the one and only Tuesday Knight! This new event definitely was a killer way to kick things off this year and we really hope the con continues to make this a fun new tradition.
The hotel at this point was jam packed with sports collectors from the convention center event letting out. It felt like hoards of zombies craving cards in every inch of the hotel. There was not a single place to sit in the bar or lounge areas and every table and floor area had cards spread out with groups of people standing and starring. Since I was a bit overstimulated with all the sporty chaos, we went up to the after party on the top floor to check out the panoramic views of Chicago skyline for a bit. The movement of the room itself was tripping me out, so we decided to end the evening by relaxing on our room’s quiet, private balcony.
We got up early Saturday and headed downstairs to get in before the con opened to the general public. It was time to get into full blown charity and art gifting mode.
First we stopped at Adam Green‘s table where I brought with me the 16×20 canvas print that we auctioned off for Yorkiethon 9. As soon as Adam saw it, he recognized it right away and came around the table and gave me a huge thank you hug.
He was beyond grateful for my contribution and talents and was so excited to also see the original piece in person. He got to signing the auction piece right away and then we walked over to Kane’s table to have him sign it as well.
Kane asked where the art piece came from and I was standing behind them holding the original ready to gift it to him. He was blown away when he saw it and intrigued that it was all hand drawn in pencil. I told him how the wood frame that I chose to put it in was ironically called “The Axeman” and he got a kick out that. He then told me “I really hope you’re doing something with all this talent.” while starring at all the details. My quick response was “I’m trying!” with an excited giggle.
He then told me we had to get a picture with the art piece and I was definitely not going to turn the man down..
I apologized to the folks standing in line that had to wait while all of this was happening and then Adam, as awesome as he is, had my back by saying “Sorry guys, this is for charity”.
When we were done with Kane we went back to Adam’s table where I gifted him a canvas print of the art piece as well as a Jason Voorhees squeaky toy for Arwen. We took photos with the signed auction piece and had a little one on one time with him for a bit where we told him how his work speaks to us as horror fans, and that thanks to Holliston, “piggly no wiggly” and “market basKET” now live in our vocabulary permanently, which he totally got a kick out of. He gave Frank a brotherly bond handshake when he told him how much mad respect he had for him including Dave Brockie aka Oderus Urungus into the show. He shared some fun and interesting facts with us about production and even the art used on the show. We even reminisced about our mutual dearly departed friend Sid Haig and his epic Scary Sleepover moment of kidnapping Axel the cat!
Once we safely put the the autographed art piece in our room it was time to mingle with our horror con fam and go exploring. We met up with our friends Ben and Jonathan of Dead Regime Media.
Ben surprised us with a very unique gift of horror history that he acquired from the set of The Amityville Horror movie from 2005. Apparently the crew hid trinkets on set in random places in hopes to ward off bad spirits after weird instances started to occur during filming. This included crew members would frequently wake up at 3:15 AM (the time of the real-life murders), a real body floating up on the water (where they filmed the boathouse scenes), and Kathy Lutz (who was involved in the remake’s production) whose family’s experiences in the house formed the basis of the story, passed away during the first week of filming. The piece itself is a Watkins Exposure Meter from the early 1900’s that was used to measure the power of light.
After having a late lunch and drinks with our friends, we were able to take a quick peak in as the annual costume contest winners were being announced, and then we immediately headed to our room to start gathering the prizes and loading them up for the Ultimate VIP Cocktail Reception Party!
This year, I did things a bit differently since the swag bags I created for the previous years were starting to get larger and larger each year. We offered prize sponsors the opportunity to donate a larger/higher value item to be raffled off on its own or donate smaller items to be put into one large swag bag that would be raffled off together. The thought process was to give more exposure to those who donate, sponsors not needing to donate multiples of one item, and to also give attendees more opportunity to win something. The outcome was incredible and we definitely ended up needing a much larger display table this year.
Due to so many generous donations and wanting to give props to each sponsor that donated, I assisted Chad when announcing each prize and pulled the winning raffle ticket numbers. Frank took photos of all of us live in action while Kat was getting photos of each individual with the prizes that they won.
It may have been a bit more work this year with the changes I made, but it was so rewarding to see the excitement from those hoping to win and the joy on the faces of those who did. During the event, four attendees came up to thank me and share that after all the years they’ve been coming to the party, this was the first time they actually won a prize. They were so genuinely happy to hear their raffle ticket numbers finally be called, and that made all the extra effort so well worth it.
I also got to enjoy a little time at the party with my horror con fam ghoulfriends Kat and Summer…
That evening, the hotel was once again filled with hoards of sports card collectors, but this time it didn’t phase us because we were excited to attend the live, late night performance of our friend and local master illusionist, Ron Fitzgerald. I snapped a few photos, then put my phone away to fully take it all in. The first time I saw Ron perform live was in the early 90s when my dad took me to be in the audience for a taping of his cable access TV show, Fitzgerald’s Realm. Watching him again as an adult at Flashback brought a wave of nostalgia rushing back. Even the music took me there. I vividly remembered sitting beside my dad, hearing music like Nine Inch Nails for the first time, and being completely in awe. It struck me how much Ron had influenced me. Goth culture wasn’t exactly common in our suburban bubble, but thanks to Ron’s dark, sticky, fun energy, I fell in love with it that very day. Since then, I’ve met Ron many times and become friends with him. He’s a true gem in the dark arts scene, and I’m forever grateful my dad took me to see him all those years ago.
When the show was over we didn’t get a chance to catch up with Ron because unfortunately he accidentally cut his thumb on a razor blade during the show and was getting it wrapped up. So we decided to have pizza and dessert delivered to our room and enjoyed another nice evening to ourselves.
On Sunday we were tired after a very eventful weekend. We checked out and loaded up the truck and then went back to the con to make a pit stop at Steven Luros Holliday‘s booth before heading out. On Saturday I had my “I need this to breath” moment in the vendor space when I discovered Steven’s 4 piece set of art called “Seasons”. Frank saw me attempting to pick my jaw up on the floor while the art was speaking to my soul and talked Steven into selling him the framed display for me. We agreed to wait to pick it up on Sunday so he could still display it at his booth. A killer way to end the weekend with a very happy wifey!
As I end this artventure con recap, I just want to reiterate what I’ve been saying for years…
Mike & Mia Kerz, and the entire crew at Flashback Weekend are the true beating heart of horror in the Windy City. They’ve created more than just a convention, they’ve built our midwest horror family and accepted all of us with open arms. There are plenty of horror cons out there, and we support them all, but the love, energy, and soul poured into this convention since the early 2000’s is why so many of us will always call it our forever horror home.
Thank you for keeping the spirit alive, and for giving us a place where horror isn’t just celebrated… it’s lived.
