Local artist David Farmer shared his recent exhibit at the Boyle County Public Library with a familiar fellow artisan: his granddaughter, Kate Farmer. David says she began painting when she was 4 years old. Now 9, David says she’s cultivating her skills every day. 

“Her mother, Suzanne, and her grandmotehr, Carrie Farmer, have degrees in art, so I think it’s genetic,” David says. Drawing since she could walk, Kate often spends Sundays with her grandfather at his Herrington Lake studio. 

“We paint together, but separately — her in acrylic and I in oils,” David says. “She asked to join me in the studio a few years ago, and I try to encourage her obvious talent.” 

David says Kate is “really more advanced that I was at her age and is a true painter.” 

He says Kate has a great sense of color and design. 

“She works out of impulse and imagination, selecting colors with a true painter’s eye. We start when I turn on Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and proceed along with the increasing tempo, which seems to energize the process.” 

“Then the music goes into Beethoven’s 5th symphony (‘Symphony No. 5’) which continues the energy.” 

Farmer says the music is important. “In later years, she’ll associated the music with the painting — an inspiration of sorts.” 

Kate is a student at Toliver Elementary School, and also loves to read. She’s the daughter of Brian and Suzanne Farmer. 

Grandfather David has been a full-time arts for more than 25 years and has work in galleries and collections throughout the country.