My name is Maria and I am a British
Artist, living in Oregon (USA) using the medium of wool instead of oils
or tapestry to create portraiture art.
I was born in 1969 in Rochford, England to Beryl and Norbert Losch. My Mother English and father Luxembourg, at the age of three we moved to Luxembourg. I have always been artistic, dabbling in various types or art and music. Even managing to attend the prestigious, Conservatoire de Music. But at the age of nine we moved back to England.
I always loved drawing pictures and knitting from a young age. Mum says I picked up a set of needles when I was 3 years old. I learnt my mother’s way of knitting, copying her style, which is a little unusual. She drops her right knitting needle to wind the yarn around the needle to make the stitch. I felt comfortable in the art class and spent many days after school continuing to study drawing techniques in still life. But it wasn’t until Sixth Form College that, under the instruction of my personal art teacher, I learnt the full palette of shading and fine-tuned my portraiture techniques, especially in pencil. Suddenly, instead of three or 4 pencils, I had 20 to work with (9H to 9B). Under his tutelage for two years, I mastered and studied the complexity of the human face and found that the eyes and mouth are the truths to the soul and character of the face you are trying to capture. Mess up those and you may not capture the likeness of the person you are drawing.
I was born in 1969 in Rochford, England to Beryl and Norbert Losch. My Mother English and father Luxembourg, at the age of three we moved to Luxembourg. I have always been artistic, dabbling in various types or art and music. Even managing to attend the prestigious, Conservatoire de Music. But at the age of nine we moved back to England.
I always loved drawing pictures and knitting from a young age. Mum says I picked up a set of needles when I was 3 years old. I learnt my mother’s way of knitting, copying her style, which is a little unusual. She drops her right knitting needle to wind the yarn around the needle to make the stitch. I felt comfortable in the art class and spent many days after school continuing to study drawing techniques in still life. But it wasn’t until Sixth Form College that, under the instruction of my personal art teacher, I learnt the full palette of shading and fine-tuned my portraiture techniques, especially in pencil. Suddenly, instead of three or 4 pencils, I had 20 to work with (9H to 9B). Under his tutelage for two years, I mastered and studied the complexity of the human face and found that the eyes and mouth are the truths to the soul and character of the face you are trying to capture. Mess up those and you may not capture the likeness of the person you are drawing.
My passion came in 1987 as a result of a prank. I took
a very small picture of Michael Jackson from the newspaper and blew it
up on a photocopier. If you keep blowing the newspaper picture up and
up, it turns into dots. That is what gave me the idea to chart. And that
was the melding of my two loves, knitting and drawing. Years later, I
got a letter and
signed picture from Michael
himself thanking me for one
of my works that he has. Children in Need, is a British charity that is
held every year in November to raise money for lots of needy causes. One
year, I did my part. I made a cardigan with a portrait of the host,
Terry Wogan and the mascot, fully lined, (affectionately know as
"Wogan's Woollie" to the production crew) for the charity to auction on
their show. It raised a thousand pounds, ($1700 in US currency). The
man who bought it loved it so much he said he didn’t need the washing
instructions, as he wasn’t going to wear it. He was going to stick it
on his wall pride of place.
I managed to fulfill a dream of mine, to go to Paris, France and visit the Louvre. It has nine miles of art in one place. And such great art with my absolute favourite painting in the whole world, the Mona Lisa. So, I decided to have my own Mona Lisa. But this time, I would not create a sweater or coat. I would create it to be framed and hung on my wall. I call these pictures made from wool "woolings" in the same manner that a painter calls his work made from paint "paintings."
I managed to fulfill a dream of mine, to go to Paris, France and visit the Louvre. It has nine miles of art in one place. And such great art with my absolute favourite painting in the whole world, the Mona Lisa. So, I decided to have my own Mona Lisa. But this time, I would not create a sweater or coat. I would create it to be framed and hung on my wall. I call these pictures made from wool "woolings" in the same manner that a painter calls his work made from paint "paintings."
In 1994 A WWII Liberty ship came to town and my
other love being cars, ships and engines, I, with my Mother, took a look
at this ship and our future husbands were on board. We moved to the USA
and for some time I took a sabbatical from my work. After my marriage
ended I started charting and knitting again, and with my new husband Bob
who is also an artist and photographer, encouraged me to become bigger
and bolder in my art. I doubled the size of my works and use twice the
amount of stitches. I used to knit around 30,000. Now I knit all by
hand anywhere from 50,000 on up. Though most of what I do is
portraiture. I can create scenes. One of my commissions was for a
doctor who was an avid salt-water fish collector and scuba diver, who
wanted a picture to hang above his aquarium. Two of the fish in his
aquarium were a Puffer fish and Lionfish, and were subjects in my
finished design.
In 2003, 2004 and 2010, I entered juried art shows and have won 1st, 2nd and 3rd places and honourary ribbons for my works. And had a two-day demonstration at a local art show. After having enough of a collection to feel comfortable with, I had my first exhibition in Florence. A reception was held and I was delighted with the interest and turnout. As was the owner and host of the gallery Kimberly, who states of my work, ‘It is amazing to imagine the preplanning that is required to achieve such clarity, such bright colors, so many deep hues, darks and shadows. Her artwork is exceptionally original, amazingly complicated, and a real testament to the creative spirit. She has a series of American Indian Chiefs that are, minimally, 4 feet by 5 feet, and absolutely statuesque! There are portraits of dogs and cats, and even a rendition of the Mona Lisa!’ Everything you see is hand done. No computers are used at all. I take a picture and reproduce it on to chart paper. This I then follow stitch-by-stitch and row-by-row, switching colours when the chart tells me too. I can do tonals, which are the same colour range, such as black, whites and greys. Or I can make the work in colours. Unlike with painting or watercolour and also a lot of embroidery and cross-stitch, I can be limited to the shade colour cards and available wool colours as to the palette I have to work with. Then I block it on to batting and pin it to Foamcore. It is then ready to be framed.I am also working on characters from the Old American West. From Col. Custer and Sitting Bull to Buffalo Bill and Wyatt Earp. From Captain Jack and Geronimo to Billy the Kid and Jesse James. These are going to be for my art book. Rejoining with my love of the Renaissance period, I am continuing expanding my works to include a 5 foot tall statuesque full length knitted framed version of Michelangelo’s David. Framed once again on foam core. With its near 27000 stitches in black, white and greys. I am going into the equine market with wonderful horse woolings, working on a wonderful five gaited Saddlebred horse. Using six shades instead of my usual four to capture the beautiful tones of the brown chestnut. Again, to rival my Indian wooling, the chart is 200 sts. x 260 rows. A bigger than life elegance.
In 2003, 2004 and 2010, I entered juried art shows and have won 1st, 2nd and 3rd places and honourary ribbons for my works. And had a two-day demonstration at a local art show. After having enough of a collection to feel comfortable with, I had my first exhibition in Florence. A reception was held and I was delighted with the interest and turnout. As was the owner and host of the gallery Kimberly, who states of my work, ‘It is amazing to imagine the preplanning that is required to achieve such clarity, such bright colors, so many deep hues, darks and shadows. Her artwork is exceptionally original, amazingly complicated, and a real testament to the creative spirit. She has a series of American Indian Chiefs that are, minimally, 4 feet by 5 feet, and absolutely statuesque! There are portraits of dogs and cats, and even a rendition of the Mona Lisa!’ Everything you see is hand done. No computers are used at all. I take a picture and reproduce it on to chart paper. This I then follow stitch-by-stitch and row-by-row, switching colours when the chart tells me too. I can do tonals, which are the same colour range, such as black, whites and greys. Or I can make the work in colours. Unlike with painting or watercolour and also a lot of embroidery and cross-stitch, I can be limited to the shade colour cards and available wool colours as to the palette I have to work with. Then I block it on to batting and pin it to Foamcore. It is then ready to be framed.I am also working on characters from the Old American West. From Col. Custer and Sitting Bull to Buffalo Bill and Wyatt Earp. From Captain Jack and Geronimo to Billy the Kid and Jesse James. These are going to be for my art book. Rejoining with my love of the Renaissance period, I am continuing expanding my works to include a 5 foot tall statuesque full length knitted framed version of Michelangelo’s David. Framed once again on foam core. With its near 27000 stitches in black, white and greys. I am going into the equine market with wonderful horse woolings, working on a wonderful five gaited Saddlebred horse. Using six shades instead of my usual four to capture the beautiful tones of the brown chestnut. Again, to rival my Indian wooling, the chart is 200 sts. x 260 rows. A bigger than life elegance.
My current project is to help the wool industry
in England. With approval of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, I
recieved a photo from Clarence House and made a wooling portrait to give to him
to show the versatility of
wool and what can be achieved in the area of yarns and art. On November
23rd HRH The Prince of Wales visited Bradford, England to further talk
about the ‘Campaign for Wool’ and introduce the aspect of it turning
Global. The British Wool Marketing Board’s Chairman, Frank Langrish
gifted The Prince with the Wooling from the British farmers and chatted
to him about it. Press & Public Relations Manager stated “The portrait
raised such immense interest from everyone on the day but the Prince was
truly amazed by it – a little stunned at first but he is so delighted
that wool has been highlighted.”
Original Photo
Wooling Portrait