The Gulf Coast Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition of luminous paintings by Punta Gorda artist Fran Hardy titled “In a Brilliant Light, Recent Work” from January 17 to February 29. There will be a reception on February 20 at 7 pm.

In conjunction with this exhibition, Hardy’s work will also be on view at the Kingdon Alan Gallery in St Petersburg from January 16 to February 29. The opening reception at Kingdon Alan Gallery will be January 16, 6 to 10 pm.

Hardy’s series of oil over egg tempera paintings on birch panel, often with gold leaf, magnify the lush, tropical plant and animal life found in the Florida landscape. Her newest works create her own fantasy tropical landscapes drawn from many sources of inspiration. The brilliant luminosity and depth Hardy captures in her paintings is achieved by an early Renaissance technique of layering numerous oil glazes over an underpainting of egg tempera crosshatching. Despite the use of this age-old technique, Hardy achieves a completely modern and individual style. Many of the paintings are broken up into different panels and use various type of gold leaf, which give an abstract element above and beyond the deep attention to detail. The most recent pieces also incorporate encaustic (wax).

Originally inspired to pursue her present technique by Bellini’s “St Francis in the Garden” (in the permanent collection of the Frick Museum in New York City), Hardy studied at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design in New York City. She came to Florida from Pennsylvania, drawn by childhood memories of visits to her grandparents, who taught her a love of beauty and nature.

Hardy received a 2002 Florida Visual Artist Fellowship and has had solo exhibitions at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, the Vero Beach Museum of Art, and Uptown Gallery in New York City. She will also be having a 15-year retrospective at the Brevard Museum of Art, Melbourne, Fla.

The Gulf Coast Museum of Art is at 12211 Walsingham Road in Largo. For information, 727-518-6833 or www.gulfcoastmuseum.org. Kingdon Alan Gallery is at 70 Beach Drive NE in St Petersburg. For information, 727-825-0111.