Extreme Close-up...Rocks on Monhegan

Gabbro Series #2. oil painting by Frank Bruckmann© 14x18"

we have trod over the rocks on Monhegan for years now, marveling at the granite and gabbro rock with the quartz intrusions, those white "stripes" that appear to be slashing thru the dark gray masses.....

here, Frank has somehow managed to capture that texture, using layers of thick paint which he builds up over days and days. then, when you think by the way he wields that palette knife that he might be changing into an abstract painter, he pulls out a paintbrush and turns what looked like chaos into a pretty exacting replication of those rocks.....when you get close up, you see the multiple layers and ridges....but from across the room, it IS Monhegan rock. he's chosen compositions with intersections of quartz, lichen, granite, other kinds of veins, moss, some rainwater, crevices, those forms that were created from the last ice age. this is one of about 10 so far that he has painted.