David Mankin dynamic and vividly coloured abstract landscape paintings draw inspiration not only from the dramatic Cornish coastline, wild moors, and expansive skies, but also from the raw physical elements of the land—rocky outcrops, beach boulders, storm debris, winding farm tracks, surging seas, and ancient fields bordered by stone hedges. He is deeply connected to the environment, relishing time spent out in the landscape and experiencing the natural and man-made forces—wind, sea, rain—that shape it. These encounters directly inform and energise his work.
Through his painting, Mankin seeks to capture the sensory experience of being in the landscape. Living and working in the far west of Cornwall provides a constant source of inspiration, with daily walks along the coast path near his studio offering visual stimulation that inevitably finds its way onto the canvas.
Textures, colours, shapes, sounds, movements, and spaces collide to form a wealth of visual and spatial relationships in constant flux—this is Mankin’s source. His work is both an emotional response to the natural environment and an attempt to convey the freedom, vastness, rhythm, and ebb and flow of nature that define this part of Cornwall.
Mankin lives and works in the South West of Cornwall and his paintings are in numerous private and corporate art collections.