Down by the Cornmill (Fine Art Print)

Limited Edition Fine Art (Giclée) from an original felt painting by Noelle Ferris.

This felt painting is inspired by the Annalong Cornmill in Co.Down. From the 1800s onwards, generations of local farmers brought their sacks of oats to be milled here into oatmeal.

It closed in the 1960s and since then has been beautifully restored. I can remember visiting the mill in primary school as part of a class trip. The saying “been through the mill” often refers to where a person has been through a very difficult season in life – like grain these situations often change and transform us.

Felted paintings are made primarily from wool, but other fibres such as bamboo and silk, along with Angelina, can be added.

To start, the artist needs to create the canvas by laying out multiple layers of undyed wool tops, overlapping them like tiles. Then, all the different colours required for the design need to be mixed using hand carders. The top coloured layer forms the design.

It is then wet felted by hand, using hot soapy water, and fulled (shrunk) by rolling the piece hundreds of times. After that, it is left to dry. During the wet felting process, the design will shrink.

Following wet felting, many hours of needle felting are required to add detail and fix any distortions that may have occurred during the wet felting process. Needle felting involves simply taking a few strands of wool fibre and stabbing them into the felted design using a felting needle.

Additionally, free motion embroidery by sewing machine and hand embroidery can be added.

This giclée print is produced from a high-resolution scan of the original felt painting, using quality ultra-chrome pigment inks. It is printed on pH-neutral heavyweight art paper.

The print image size is 12"x 8" and is mounted with an acid-free mountboard (16"x12") in size. It is packaged in a cellophane bag.

This design has a limited print run of 250. All prints are numbered, titled and signed by Noelle.