Walter Verling is an influential and highly respected painter who has been engaged in landscape painting since his youth and has remained committed to "plein air". His greatest influence was Charles Lamb the Connemara painter with whom he painted in the 1960's, he later befriended Cormac Mehegan, painter and noted designer, with whom he has painted for the past 40 years.

Born in New Ross, Co Wexford in 1930, he has strong Limerick connections. Sixty Year Retrospective an extensive exhibition of over 120 outstanding works in painting and drawing made from the 1940's to 2008 was presented in Limerick City Gallery of Art in Summer 08, celebrated Verling's unique contribution to Irish Art. The hardback catalogue included an essay by The Irish Times Chief Art Critic Aidan Dunne, placing Verling within the social history of Munster and in the Irish and European Art scenes of the 50's through to the 21st century.

He taught and influenced generations of Irish school teachers at Mary Immaculate College, all the while maintaining a strong painting career. Verling was awarded membership of Honorary Council of the Royal Hibernian Academy (HRHA) in 1994