Interview by Sandra McCall Oct 30.
Sigga Dís lives an artful life in Iceland. She is an art instructor who teaches kids- ages six through sixteen. Phew- big age spread there. I think that it must be a challenge to come up with game plans that will keep kids of all ages interested in art. Not only that, but Sigga has a thriving blog, an ETSY shop and is on Facebook too.
Sigga says that with all of her work and painting, she does not even know what TV is anymore. I asked this busy lady if she would take time out to tell us a little about herself, her studio and her artwork. She has graciously supplied some photos and has answered a few little “interview” questions for us.
SM: When did you first discover your passion for art?
SD: I have always been drawing, painting and working with clay.
I loved to go to art class when I was in school. Sometimes my art teacher gave me some books to take home to read. I was so proud when I met her a few years ago and told her I had become an art teacher too.
SM: That meeting with your teacher must have been fun. What path did you take? What is your creative specialty today?
SD: Today – it’s mixed media. I love everything about MM. When you work with mixed media, you can put everything together and make a piece of art. You can paint, cut, stamp, glue, draw and mix it all together. Before I just like to paint with oil colors and watercolor.
SM: I love your faces. they are adorable on the mugs too. You have a style that lends itself to a variety of merchandise. How would youdescribe your style?
SD: I don’t know. I love to draw girls and ladies, but they are ladies with big noses and their eyes here and there. I think I have made about 50 of them and I love all of them.
SM: What are your favorite art mediums? And why is that?
SD: Neocolor, acrylic, stamps and pens. If I have these, I can do a lot and of course watercolor paper 300gr, my favorite.
SM: Do you exhibit your work?
SD: Yes I do. This year I have had 4 exhibitions with my lovely Ladies that all went and I’m booked at 4 places next year.
SM: What is YOUR best tip for organizing your studio?
SD: I have just moved to a new room with my stuff, in my old room I could not paint anymore. I had stuff all over the place. No I’m going to clean the mess after every painting I make. When working in MM you are using all kind of paper and just all kind of stuff so it is very easy to lose control over your stuff. I try to organize my things, like keeping all of my pens together, all my paint together, all my paper and magazine at one place and so on. Even if it looks like a mess, I always know where I can find everything. I was wondering if I should have my computer in the same room and did decided to take it with me. I think I was right because then I can listen to class while working.
SM: What’s coming next from your studio?
SD: Today I was working on a painting for Life Book. It was fun. I had to use fabric and all kind of things. Tomorrow I’m going to use my sewing machine to finish that painting. That’s the one laying on my desk if you look at the pictures.
SM: Any blogs, web sites, links or contact information that you would like to
leave us with?
SD: I have a blog and a Facebook page. Then I have ETSY shop, but I have not had time to work on that one for a long time but will soon.
e-mail: sdis@simnet.is
Interview by Sandra McCall Oct 30.
Sigga Dís lives an artful life in Iceland. She is an art instructor who teaches kids- ages six through sixteen. Phew- big age spread there. I think that it must be a challenge to come up with game plans that will keep kids of all ages interested in art. Not only that, but Sigga has a thriving blog, an ETSY shop and is on Facebook too.
Sigga Dís lives an artful life in Iceland. She is an art instructor who teaches kids- ages six through sixteen. Phew- big age spread there. I think that it must be a challenge to come up with game plans that will keep kids of all ages interested in art. Not only that, but Sigga has a thriving blog, an ETSY shop and is on Facebook too.
Sigga says that with all of her work and painting, she does not even know what TV is anymore. I asked this busy lady if she would take time out to tell us a little about herself, her studio and her artwork. She has graciously supplied some photos and has answered a few little “interview” questions for us.
SM: When did you first discover your passion for art?
SD: I have always been drawing, painting and working with clay.
I loved to go to art class when I was in school. Sometimes my art teacher gave me some books to take home to read. I was so proud when I met her a few years ago and told her I had become an art teacher too.
I loved to go to art class when I was in school. Sometimes my art teacher gave me some books to take home to read. I was so proud when I met her a few years ago and told her I had become an art teacher too.
SM: That meeting with your teacher must have been fun. What path did you take? What is your creative specialty today?
SD: Today – it’s mixed media. I love everything about MM. When you work with mixed media, you can put everything together and make a piece of art. You can paint, cut, stamp, glue, draw and mix it all together. Before I just like to paint with oil colors and watercolor.
SM: I love your faces. they are adorable on the mugs too. You have a style that lends itself to a variety of merchandise. How would youdescribe your style?
SD: I don’t know. I love to draw girls and ladies, but they are ladies with big noses and their eyes here and there. I think I have made about 50 of them and I love all of them.
SM: What are your favorite art mediums? And why is that?
SD: Neocolor, acrylic, stamps and pens. If I have these, I can do a lot and of course watercolor paper 300gr, my favorite.
SM: Do you exhibit your work?
SD: Yes I do. This year I have had 4 exhibitions with my lovely Ladies that all went and I’m booked at 4 places next year.
SM: What is YOUR best tip for organizing your studio?
SD: I have just moved to a new room with my stuff, in my old room I could not paint anymore. I had stuff all over the place. No I’m going to clean the mess after every painting I make. When working in MM you are using all kind of paper and just all kind of stuff so it is very easy to lose control over your stuff. I try to organize my things, like keeping all of my pens together, all my paint together, all my paper and magazine at one place and so on. Even if it looks like a mess, I always know where I can find everything. I was wondering if I should have my computer in the same room and did decided to take it with me. I think I was right because then I can listen to class while working.
SM: What’s coming next from your studio?
SD: Today I was working on a painting for Life Book. It was fun. I had to use fabric and all kind of things. Tomorrow I’m going to use my sewing machine to finish that painting. That’s the one laying on my desk if you look at the pictures.
SM: Any blogs, web sites, links or contact information that you would like to
leave us with?
leave us with?
SD: I have a blog and a Facebook page. Then I have ETSY shop, but I have not had time to work on that one for a long time but will soon.
e-mail: sdis@simnet.is
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Friday, September 7, 2012
here begins "listening to you" ~
posts of art or photography referencing listening from you
(if you have something you would like included, please
email me at rachelawes@gmail.com).
*this first piece is by the lovely sigga dis:
Hi my name is Sigga Dis and I am a mixed media artist and a art teacher from Iceland. I teach art to children age 6 to 16 and I just love my job as well as I love making my paintings.
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Sigga Dis - Artist of the Month by Stacie Jewelry
Saturday, September 1, 2012 at 06:00AM
This month's artist is Sigga Dis from Keflavik, Iceland. I met Sigga Dis in the Life Book 2012class that we are both taking online. I was immediately attracted to Sigga Dís unique and original style of artwork. I love the strong lines that she uses and brilliant colors. I also really enjoy her quotes and sayings that she incorporates into her artwork. One of her most striking mixed media series are her "Lovely Ladies".
Sigga Dis grew up in a small town called Seltjarnarnes, just outside of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. She now lives in Keflavik, a little town about a half hour drive from the capital. She is married to her husband of 26 years; has two boys, a girl, a dog and a cat. Sigga Dis is very excited about becoming a Grandmother for the first time in just a few weeks!
Sigga Dis is an art teacher, teaching art to children ages 6 to 16. She enjoys working with the kids, finding their work so creative and admiring their art (most of the time!). She has been drawing and painting for as long as she can remember, taking some after school classes in art. To me her Lovely Lady paintings have a Picasso style to them. With sharp images, her famous elongated nose, and sometimes abstract facial features.
Sigga Dis has been fortunate enough to live and travel to many different countries to include India, Singapore, Sweden and Norway. When she was 20, she lived in India with her parents and four sisters for a year. Her father was working for FAO, UN. She had a wonderful time and fell in lover with India. I think that you can see her love for India in her artwork with her use of bright colors.
"I adore the colors of India, love their food and so many things in their culture. Three years ago I went there again after all these years and had the most wonderful time meeting so many of my old friends again, walking the streets, eating their food and just smelling India (now someone think that I´m crazy) I did stay for two weeks, practicing Yoga and meditation and was having such a great experience."
Sigga Dis enjoys creating her mixed media artwork using stamps, stencils, paints, pens and paper. Here is how she goes about the process of creating one of her Lovely Ladies:
"When I'm working on my Lovely ladies I start with my background then I try to find the eyes somewhere. When I have placed the eyes I start with their famous nose. Then one thing leads to another and I paint over and over again till I’m happy with my work. I add paper, butterflies, stamps and everything I get my hands on. I think I spend about 10 hours working on every Lady."
"All the time I have wanted to paint, glue and do all of the things that we use in Mixed media, but I did not know about Mixed media. So, I always thought I could not make a painting like that. One day, I found out about Willowing.ning.com. It was like a haven opened for me. There I found out that I could use all these things in my paintings. First I did take a class, Fabulous Faces, the teacher was Tam, she is the one behind Willowing, great teacher. There I learned to draw faces. I think it was the best class ever to start with. Then I took Mandala by Guada, wonderful class and now I’m taking Life Book, the best art class I could think of. The class is from 1. January 2012 to 1. January 2013. We have a new teacher almost every week and we are well over 1000 taking part. I had never thought one could take an art class on the Internet. I have also signed in to few groups and classes, always learning something new. After that I´m in contact with so many wonderful artists who all have working in mixed media in common. So if you want to take an art class, search the Internet, its all there."
Sigga Dis is currently exhibiting and selling her artwork at a small gallery in Keflavik, Iceland. She does have an Etsy shop, SiggaDisArt that is on vacation at the moment while she sells her work in the gallery. You can learn more about Sigga Dis and her artwork by visiting her blog "When I think of Angles I think of you - my art" and her Facebook page "SiggaDisArt".
I hope you enjoyed getting to know Sigga Dis and her artwork this month. Have a wonderful weekend!
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Friday, June 1, 2012
Paint Party Friday: Week12, Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Sigga Dis
image courtesy of Sigga Dis
Welcome to Week 12 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and to the next edition of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Please click here for details!) This week we are thrilled to feature a very versatile and enthusiastic artist all the way from Iceland. Please welcome Sigga Dis!
1) Please tell us a bit about your personal history with painting. (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)
My name is Sigga Dís, I´m 53 years old, a Mixed Media artist and an art
teacher, teaching children ages 6-16. I was 42 when I went to University
to learn to become a teacher, an art teacher. I have always been doing
some kind of art. Art class was my favorite class in school and I did go
to art class after school too. I have been working with oils, acrylics,
watercolors, glass, clay, making paper and just all kinds of material.
If I´m not painting, I´m knitting or doing some needlework. I think my
painting has been evolving all the time but today I feel like I can work
with almost all materials without fearing that I can´t and that feels
good.
2) What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?
I have been taking a few classes with Tam at Willowing.ning.com. The
best class ever I think is the Live Book where Tam is teaching with I
think 15 other teachers for one year. Each teacher teaches a different
style and different technique. One of the teachers is Mystele.
Something happened to me after her class where she was teaching us to
paint ladies with a big nose and eyes all over the place. I just fell in
love with her technique and since her class I have been painting and
painting, having so much fun and liking my work very much. I'm using
acrylics, watercolor, all kind of pens, stamps, paper, watercolor paper
and just everything I have around me.
image courtesy of Sigga Dis
3) What is your favorite thing to paint? Why?
Painting angels has for a long time been my favorite. I have painted
angels many ways, big and clumsy, small and beautiful and everything
there in between. But I have also been painting all kind of things. Now
after Tam's Fabulous Faces I learned how to draw faces and then I began
to draw girls, ladies, beautiful angels and little girls. As I said
before I´m painting clumsy but beautiful ladies now, but of course I
continue taking Live Book classes as soon as they come every other week.
image courtesy of Sigga Dis
4) What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?
I think that must have been when I had my first solo exhibition and sold
a very expensive one. And now few weeks ago I was asked to have an
exhibition, that was a good feeling. So now I´m going to have my 5th
solo exhibition in 3 years and one more to come in September.
image courtesy of Sigga Dis
5) What's next in your painting future?
A few days ago I bought Kelly Rae´s e-book, Flying Lessons. It was on
50% discount for one day. I´m reading it and I´m going to learn from it
now as I´m working on my own shop, having a blog and a FaceBook like
page. Please come for a visit. It would make me very happy. I want to
make something out of my art. And from now on I´m going to say like one
of my FB friends said, I´m an artist and that feels good.
***
Thanks so much, Sigga! If you would like to see more of her artwork, please visit her at:
Blog: www.Siggadisart.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Siggadisart
Shops: www.Society6.com/siggadisart
www.Cafepress.com/siggadisart
www.Etsy.com/shop/siggadisart
Wow, I love this interview ! This is a nice post! Thanks for sharing !
ReplyDeleteThank you Laureline :)
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