Sam Farrow has been grinning from ear to ear since Christmas — and for good reason.

A hefty coffee table tome, one of the gifts he received during the holidays, included a two-page feature about his daughter, Judy Ballance, an award-winning and nationally renowned artist.

He had even more reason to smile when he read his daughter’s hand-written dedication on page 63 of the book which contains the text accompanying her graphite portrait on the facing page. Ballance wrote: “To the Sacramento Kings’ greatest fan and the ‘Best Daddy’ in the world.”

The book is “Art Journey Portraits and Figures: The Best of Contemporary Drawing in Graphite, Pastel and Colored Pencil” by Rachel Rubin Wolf who has edited and written many fire art books for North Light Books.

The 94-year-old Farrow, who owned the now-defunct Farrow’s Bike and Small Engine Repairs on North Main Street with his late wife Norma for decades until they retired, said his daughter has mentioned months ago about being published in a book and thought nothing more of it. So when he received the gift package in the mail from Balance who now lives in New Jersey with her husband, Farrow’s initial reaction was, “What the heck she sent me a book like that for?” he recalled with a hearty laugh.

“I didn’t know it was that kind of a thing,” he said with a big smile as he cradled his cherished copy of the hardbound book.

“My sister is an acclaimed artist, very well known in New York (artists) circles” and beyond, said Ballance’s older sister, Paula Miller, who lives in Manteca with husband Clyde.

Growing up, “I never saw her doodling or drawing or doing anything artsy,” Miller said of her younger sibling. But her interest in art bloomed when she was in eighth grade at Lincoln Elementary School under teacher Ron Pecchenino who was also an artist. He is one of the artists featured in the Manteca Mural Society’s collection of murals around town.

After graduating from Manteca High, Balance went on to major in art in college. Before she married her Air Force husband, Robert, she worked in direct mail advertising in Berkeley, according to her online biography (http://judyballance.com).

Miller said that while her sister was married and her family moved from place to place around the world on account of her husband being in the military, she took that time to paint and take art classes while raising their three children – a son and two daughters, who are now grown.

In New Jersey, Balance studied illustration, graphic design and computer graphics at Ducret School of the Arts, Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art and Pratt Institute, according to her online biography. She also attended fine art workshops with such prestigious artists as Claude Croney, Alex Powers, Charles Reid, Don Andrew, to name just a few. She has visited numerous art museums and studied hundreds of art masterpieces throughout the world as well.

Working in both watercolor and acrylic, Ballance’s body of work includes several genres but painting and drawing people are her passion.

She expounds on this in her answer to the question, “What does portraiture teach us about life and art?” in the Rubin Wolf Book.

 “It’s about humans painting humans. The oldest examples of figure paintings are found on cave walls, recording dwellers’ daily activities. I believe today’s technology has changed our awareness of others. Busy with cell phones, etc., we are often oblivious of others, how they look, what they are doing or how they feel. As a people painter I look at the world around me and want to express what I see and hope those who view my art take notice. I want my work to tell a story about life today, inspire others and leave an understanding of today’s world,” she said in response to the question.

Ballance’s black-and-white portrait published in the book was from a photograph that she took in Rockefeller Center in New York City.

“I like painting people as they are in their daily life, doing what they do. I want my art to say something about the world today even if it means tattoos, multiple earrings, texting, not talking or constantly talking into cell phones,” she said in the question-and-answer format of the accompanying text.

Ballance and her now-retired Air Force husband have three children – Kristen who is married to a Baptist minister and the mother of three children, Eric who works for the Pentagon, and Kathy who is a banker.

While the nonagenarian Farrow says tongue-in-cheek he has no idea where his daughter inherited his artistic genes, he is an artist in his own right. His home in one of Manteca’s quiet tree-lined neighborhoods near Doctors Hospital of Manteca is full of his own original creations made out of driftwood. Miller added that their paternal grandfather was also an artist who mainly painted in oils.

The Best of Contemporary Drawing book is available at major bookstores and at amazon.com for $34.40 - $28.49 on Kindle. List price is $49.99.