Bob Lizarraga Shares Halloween Musings

I'll turn this post over to my talented artist friend, Bob Lizarraga:

As a kid, I’d prepare at least a month in advance (now its 2 months)! Mr. Hyde and The Wolfman were always my favorite monsters, so it was a great excuse to drag my mother to “higher end” shops that offered the wool crepe hair and professional make-up.

Imagining myself a Junior Lon Chaney, I’d spend hours creeping up and down the aisles of the Hollywood Magic Store, or Buddy’s Fun Shop on Lankershim Blvd. Buddy was a kindly old proprietor with one leg shorter than the other, and he’d perform feats of magic for customers— he’d only show you how the trick was done if you made a purchase. Nothing like a dark and mysterious magic shop to fuel the imagination…

Which brings to mind a question I’m asked on occasion: “What scared you as a child?”

I’m pretty jaded as far as “scary stuff” in film, haunts, art, or whatever, but there are some childhood scares that will forever stick in my spine:


1. An episode of TV’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents entitled “The Magic Shop”, of course, about a very peculiar, gifted child. David Opatoshu is the CREEPY proprietor.

2. That FACE in the wall of 1963’s THE HAUNTING.

3. A little person (or child??), dressed as a murderous ventriloquist dummy, in a film called Devil Doll.

4. The guy with his eyes pecked out in Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS, and while we’re at it, Norman’s mother doing her rocking chair spin in PSYCHO.

5. Victor Buono.

6. And finally, a dream I once had of being chased out of my house by a malevolent washing machine, all the way to the local park, where it moved through the sandbox like a shark, its gaping maw lunging at me while my feet sank the more I struggled…

I used to be able to shake myself awake during a nightmare when I was young— I’ve since lost that ability. I’m very lucky I don’t have bad dreams anymore (well, at least hardly ever).

Bob Lizarraga

October, 2015

Halloween Art by Bob Lizarraga

When I was at ScareLA, I spent some time connecting with other Hallowe'en artists. And spending money on their art!

One of those people is Bob Lizarraga. 

I've loved his art from the moment I first saw it, and finally, I have a print of the very first piece of his I ever saw!

Bob was even gracious enough to sign it for me! Thanks, Bob!

I took it over to Aaron Brothers (we don't have any small art stores here in town to do this kind of work) to get it (and all my other ill-gotten gains from the show) framed. I got them all back this week, and man, was I happy with how they all turned out! The picture above doesn't do justice to how the colors really pop with the matting, or how the gold mat brings out his signature, which was done in gold paint pen.

After Hallowe'en, and by that I mean, "after all the bins which are making it impossible to walk into my office are put away," I plan to look for some shorter, longer bookcases so I have more wall space to hang my art on.

I can't wait to share the others with you!