NEW Forest-based artist Nicola Burley opens Soul Searching, a new exhibition of abstract paintings at the Ringwood David Lloyd Club, Ringwood, on September 12.

As a painter she follows in the family tradition of painters and designers – her father Thomas Chapman designed the now classic face on the vintage orange spacehopper, while his paintings are in collections across the country.

Of her two sisters Susan Rimmer has exhibited at the Royal Academy’s summer shows and Roberta Comben, a graduate from the Royal College of Art in the 1970s, won a bursery which set her up as a well-respected litho-print artist.

Nicola’s paintings in the past have encompassed abstracts created by painting through the apertures of discarded precision-engineered metal-sheets.

“The necessity to earn a living meant I followed my father’s footsteps into commercial art,” she says. “But at home I am constantly reminded of my father’s real passion for painting. His and my sisters’ work fill the walls of our home and I’m very proud to be following the family tradition.”

Soul Searching runs until September 26.