42 sketchbooks and counting: Nowthen artist Arellano sharing 'Next Page' at Pine Center For the Arts gallery

At last count, Andrew Arellano, a self-taught artist based out of Nowthen, has filled approximately 42 sketchbooks — and counting — with artwork.

"And I still have all of them," Arellano said.

Starting on Friday, the Pine Center For the Arts will host an exhibition titled "The Sketchbook of Andrew Arellano, Onto the Next Page," running through the month of April.

Arellano joined WCMP on Wednesday for a conversation about the upcoming gallery, his artistic inspirations, and his unlikely discovery of the Pine Center For the Arts.

Growing up in "the middle of a cotton field in the middle of nowhere" in West Texas, Arellano said he picked up a notebook and started sketching at eight years old.

He drew the cotton plants, his dad's tractors and farm trucks, the family dogs — art was a pastime Arellano could have all to himself.

"I would sit out there, just trying to get away from everything," he said. "I came from a very large family, I'm the youngest out of everyone. So, just trying to have an escape, basically."

Arellano said he drew just about every day, and when he was 12, he recalls getting his first proper sketchbook from a Hobby Lobby in Lubbock, Texas.

It's now a nine-by-twelve artifact in his collection, with plenty of sheets torn from its pages: Arellano would give sketches as gifts, or hang them on the walls.

Arellano credits his brother-in-law, Jaime Chavez, for influencing and challenging his artistic approach.

"He gave me some great advice over the years," Arellano said. "And kind of challenged me as well, because he's a great artist in his own right."

Chavez, who has since passed away, gave Arellano his first actual art pencils, a kneadable eraser, and a set of charcoals.

"It was great to have another artist in the family," Arellano said. "He went through the trials too. He found his own style, and I have my own style. But thanks to him, he helped me hone my style."

Pencil remains Arellano's medium of choice — "it will always be the closest to my heart," he said — but he also loves playing with charcoal in his works.

April’s gallery will feature Arellano's charcoal and pencil drawings, and he said he's excited to show off what he's learned since his debut gallery with the Pine Center For the Arts in 2024.

"I've really tried to stretch my boundaries on what kind of medium I'm using," Arellano said.

Arellano's path converged with the Pine Center For the Arts almost entirely by happenstance — Pine City is in his sales territory for his day job with Fastenal, and Arellano stopped into the arts center during a break between meetings.

His first gallery went up in February of 2024, and Arellano said he felt like it served as a community introduction to his art.

"I had no clue there was a little art gallery here," Arellano said. "I didn't know they did something like this, and I think it's just absolutely amazing, and I kind of found it on a whim."

With this exhibition, Arellano said the focus is on how fun it was to play with a new medium — a sentiment he believes is reflected in what's on display.

"What I really set out to do was to stretch my boundaries and do something out of my comfort zone," he said. "I think you'll see that in this art show."

Arellano said the main influence on April's gallery was his wife, Amy. One of the pieces in the exhibition, he explained with a laugh, is a picture of a mountain lion that she bugged him for "months and months and months" to draw.

"I drew it, and all right, everyone else has to see this, because this actually turned out way better than I thought it would," he said.

Arellano spoke to the "absolutely amazing" nature of human imagination, and challenged artists to dabble outside of their norms.

"To me, it's amazing," he said. "It doesn't matter what level you are. The effort you put into it, if you create art, you're creating art. And it's beautiful."

The exhibition will open with an artist's reception from 4-7 p.m. on Friday, April 3.

The Pine Center For the Arts is free and open to the public, with regular hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.