One night a young man in his early 20s played pool for hours at his favorite hangout, The Green Room in Durham.

He loved pool. Couldn't get enough of it. But on this night, the young man saw a pad of paper and a blue pen sitting on the counter. He enjoyed sketching almost as much as he enjoyed pool, and he picked up the pad and pen and started doing a sketch of a rusty pipe sticking out of the wall.

After 45 minutes or so, the pool room's owner, Joe Wilson, walked by. He noticed the young man's drawing. Impressed, he asked whether he could keep it,

"I said, 'Of course.' I thought I was going to get more pool lessons," said the artist, Fernando Quiambao Jr.

As a matter of fact, he did, but he got something more, too. The next afternoon Wilson handed Quiambao a bag stuffed with art supplies, including a sketchpad, pencils, a sharpener and an eraser.

"I guess he just sort of saw me as a kid who had a lot of potential," Quiambao said.

This potential has evolved into a very talented reality. On Friday, an exhibit of Quiambao's oil paintings will open at Main Street Gallery, 405 E. Main St. in Carrboro. A reception to meet the artist is scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m.

The bag of art supplies came with a request. Wilson told his patron that he would help him improve his pool playing, but in return he wanted the fledgling artist to sketch the place.

"I'd practice for two or three hours and then I would sit there for a long time sketching this pool hall," Quiambao said.

During the same period, Quiambao began working as a cook, honing his burgeoning culinary skills, at Durham's Cafe Parizade. Another cook at the restaurant, Rodolfo Ortero, took an instant dislike to Quiambao. The feeling was mutual.

"We hated each other for the first month," Quiambao said. "He thought I was a little punk with a little bit of mouth, and I was. But one night I had a pencil on me and someone started talking about me drawing. Rodolfo asked me to draw something. I pulled out a five dollar bill and threw it on the work station and started drawing it."

Ortero had been a painter in his homeland of Argentina. When he saw Quiambao's skill, the friction between them ceased, and Ortero became a mentor to the "little punk."

Ortero told him that oils were the perfect medium to capture the atmosphere and character of The Green Room, which Quiambao was struggling with. Ortero would give him advice, but trying to paint the old tin ceiling of the pool hall was a problem that would not be solved over the hot stove.

"I begged him to come over and take a look at the painting and tell me what I was doing wrong," Quiambao said. "He came one night. We picked up a six-pack and talked about everything from women to baseball to him moving but we never talked about the painting. He never mentioned it.

"He showed up at work the next day with this art book and he had marked 10 different spots in the book for me to study. He asked me to not paint for the week and to go stand outside the pool hall, though it had closed by this time, and look at the place, even if I looked like a total freak."

He followed Ortero's advice. He spent a long time just looking, noticing how the light hit the space.

"There was a lot of standing outside an old building in that year and a half," Quiambao said.

It paid off. The 4-by-8-foot painting now hangs in the new location of The Green Room, also on Broad Street.

Quiambao moved to New York to pursue his career as a chef. It flourished, but the artistic impulse kept tugging him back. In 2004 he returned to Durham and rented studio pace.

"This was the test," he said. "I gave myself six months. My landlord in New York held my place for six months. I figured if I could get three paintings done in six months, I would stay. I got eight done in the first five months and kept going."

Quiambao now lives in Carrboro in a house with plenty of space in which to paint. He works as chef de cuisine at Pazzo Restaurant and Fine Dining in Southern Village.

Sharing his paintings with friends has always brought Quiambao pleasure, but until recently he had never thought to show his work in public. Again, an art angel stepped in.

"I remember the first time I saw Fernando's artwork," said Joanna Ramsey, who lives in Carrboro. "It was up on a friend's wall, and I thought, 'Oh, my god, there is so much to it.'"

One day not too long ago Ramsey was walking by Main Street Gallery, and the light bulb went on.

"I called them and told them they needed to see this guy's art," she said. "It is amazing. I didn't even tell Fernando I was calling. I called Fernando and said, 'What are you doing next Thursday? Get your paintings together, and we are going to Main Street Gallery.' I think he was nervous. They loved it."

Aviva Rosen runs the gallery. She saw in Quiambao's work the same energy and vision that so struck Ramsey.

"Fernando's use of color is awesome and his subject matter is something we have never seen," Rosen said.

Many of Quiambao's subjects are things he has never seen in person. "I have never been to a bullfight or seen Spanish women and flamenco dancers, but these paintings are my ideas of what they would be," Quiambao said.

Quiambao has his work, his passion, and his play: "I am finding this really wonderful balance between cooking, paintings, and playing pool."

Ramsey believes that big things are ahead for Quiambao the artist.

"This is just the beginning as long as Fernando is comfortable with it," she said. "I just really feel that this is a talent we are so lucky to have locally."

Main Street Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday, 1-5. Call 967-7005.