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The painter image chosen by Discovering What’s Next® for its website has its own interesting story. It was discovered by Carol Greenfield, DWN’s founder, and her husband, David, the photographer of the image, when visiting their friends Peter and Nancy Goldberg at the Town Commons in Newcastle, NH. The inspiring image of the painter and his “ever-changing” canvas exemplifies the vast canvas of possibilities for people midlife and beyond to embrace and capture opportunities in their own unique ways. This is exactly what Discovering What’s Next is about - a community-based volunteer driven organization with a mission of engaging midlife and older adults in creative exploration of their next life stage. What a perfect representation.
This public art sculpture was designed by renowned sculptor Walter Liff of Steeling Nature Gallery in Newcastle (www.steelingnature.com). On a later visit, Carol and David visited Walter’s studio in Newcastle and learned the story behind the sculpture. Walter had a dear friend, a retired surgeon, with whom he ran the beautiful roads of Newcastle each day. The surgeon had taken up painting after he retired. Walter created this sculpture in honor of his friend and donated it to the community that they both loved so much.
Walter himself took up the art of metal sculpture in mid-life seeking to have quality time with his son Paul who was taking a welding course in high school. It started a beautiful collaboration. Paul had MS and passed away several years ago. Walter continues to create these works of art as a tribute to his relationship with his son.
DWN thanks Walter for permission to use this image. Walter has clearly filled the frame of his life in a meaningful and creative way. We hope it inspires many others to fill their frames in their own special way.
Sculpture by Walter Liff of Steeling Nature (www.steelingnature.com)
About the photographer – David Greenfield
Portsmouth, NH David Greenfield
For me, Black & White imagery is the essence of photographic art. It renders what we visually encounter, but do not necessarily “see,” into elements of form and design that we truly can “see.” Then we are able to appreciate the hidden beauty in front of us. So, when I came across this sculpture of a painter poised with palette and brush in front of a canvas of infinite possibilities, standing on an emerald turf before a backdrop of blue sky and blue green ocean, it was the silhouette and shadows that captivated me. I immediately set out to find the perfect photographic vantage point - the intersection of the eye, mind and heart - before clicking my camera’s shutter. But as I maneuvered for a few minutes, right, left, low, high, wide angle or close up, I noted from my varied positions that the painter’s “canvas” was continuously changing, and so was the elusive image I was trying to capture. Think of the possibilities if I returned to repeat this camera dance at different times of day, like daybreak or dusk, or how about different seasons! While jockeying for “the” spot, I also recalled Claude Monet’s outstanding time studies in oil of grain stacks and the London Bridge. During the course of a year, he would travel to these favorite scenic locales and sketch what he saw. Upon return home to Giverny, France he painstakingly applied paint to canvas to record all the subtle variations he witnessed. That’s when I sensed a shared artistic vision with the sculptor. He created the bronze painter standing at the ready to fill his canvas with whatever nature was offering at any given moment. Could the sculptor have been inspired by Monet’s visions? I certainly was.
David Greenfield
Photograph by David Greenfield of fotovisions (www.fotovisions.smugmug.com)
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