BRAND/Tyler Jameson
Artist Randy Friemel and Linda Brito, director of the Trinity Fellowship Church nursery, stand in front of Friemel’s recent work in one of the church nursery rooms. This piece was first drawn in charcoal before the artist skillfully transformed it into a beautiful painted mural.
BRAND/Tyler Jameson
This touching charcoal mural, adorning one of the walls at Trinity Fellowship Church, was completed by the artist in about five hours.
By Desarae Phipps, BRAND Staff Writer
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but some beauty is plain as day, no matter who you are, and it doesn’t take an art fanatic to appreciate the beauty of the bigger-than-life-sized murals which Randy Friemel, a local artist, has recently painted on the walls of a local Hereford Church.
At Trinity Fellowship Church, located at 401 West Park Avenue, something is abuzz that has more than just the church body excited. People have already come as far as Lubbock to lay eyes on the inspiring handiwork of an extremely talented, albeit, humble artist.
Three newly remodeled walls of the Trinity Fellowship Nursery have now been converted into a canvas of impressive and touching images, all skillfully depicting Jesus with little children and toddlers.
Linda Brito, Trinity Fellowship’s Nursery Director, was assigned the task about two months ago, of remodeling the three nursery rooms, which hadn’t seen new paint in maybe 40 years.
More than a simple paint job and face lift, Brito wanted to do something special with the nursery. Her friend and Hereford school chum, now a gifted artist, Friemel, came to mind.
Brito knew she wanted the nursery rooms to be “more than just a day care”, desiring to make each child’s stay a “Jesus experience.” “We want to teach them about Jesus while they are here,” expressed Brito, “even as babies they can learn that.” So she took her vision to Friemel, who was soon commissioner for the task.
Friemel has surprisingly only been painting for the past year, although drawing has been a passion of his since the early age of four.
While drawing is a unique talent amongst his family, Friemel says his mother, and even his grandmothers, were both gifted in the realm of artistry. Friemel’s mother is well known at her local church for her skill in scissor cutouts, which are sold yearly at the church auction. Just a step farther back on Friemel’s family tree, his father’s mother took up painting at a young age and became quite proficient. Even his maternal grandmother had more skill with a pencil than most. Friemel remembers once seeing a drawing of hers of a dress design which greatly impressed him. “I guess I got a little talent from both sides,” says Friemel, although most of it, he says, is really a gift from God.
Even in the 7th grade, he had so well developed his gift, he found the art classes in school to be boring, and was completing separate work assignments apart from the rest of the class. For his work, Friemel won an Overall Junior award, surpassing even upperclassmen. With a laugh, he recalls how disappointed he was when he found out he had lost as 7th grade winner to a girl, making him wonder if all his extra assignments were even worth it. But what came after was an even greater shock, when his teacher mentioned his name in conjunction with “a student who’s talent surpasses the rest” and gave him the overall award. “I nearly fell out of my chair!” Friemel said with a smile.
During high school, he entered his drawings in art competitions. On one such occasion he entered a free-hand 3-D contest, the challenge being you weren’t allowed to use a ruler. Winning first at districts, he advanced to state, but lost first place because, as a teacher later told him, the judges actually thought he had used a ruler for the project.
Even with such obvious talent, Friemel only took a couple art classes during his college years at West Texas. Which surprisingly, were his last.
During the 15 years following his college graduation, Friemel laid aside his colored pencils and didn’t pursue his art. Before that point he hadn’t confined himself to working on one particular genre, however once he revived his interest, all of his pieces would be of a religious nature.
Friemel’s skill with a pencil, which has now expanded to include paint and charcoal, has been mostly self taught, but a greater Hand has been at work, as Brito notes, “he knows he is good, but he knows it comes from God.”
“Everybody has something,” points out Friemel, “if you are listening to God and seeking, He will reveal that to you.”
As depicted in the Parable of the Talents, found in the 25th chapter of the book of Matthew, Friemel believes he has this talent for a reason. “We aren’t supposed to hide our talents, but develop and use them.” It is clear to anyone who walks through the nursery at Trinity Fellowship Church that Friemel has followed this philosophy.
Before this year, Friemel worked strictly with pencils, but the spur that perhaps nudged him towards painting came when he inherited his paternal grandmother’s painting supplies. “When I got all of my dad’s mom’s paint equipment, I figured that is another reason why I started, because I had all of the stuff,” he said. The other reason, Friemel stated with a good natured laugh, was that since his colored pencil drawings looked so much like paintings, he figured he could probably paint too. After all, how hard could it be?
Armed with this mindset and eager to learn, he set himself to the task of producing three large scale murals-- something he had never done before.
“It was a challenge,” Friemel said. “I didn’t know what they wanted or if I would be able to DO what they wanted.” But as things progressed, Friemel came to see what an opportunity he had before him.
“Not everyone will let you paint on their walls,” he laughed, “so for me it was a free lesson.”
And school was indeed in session. “I didn’t know what paints to use,” Friemel said, especially when it came to withstanding the wear and tear of little hands. “So,” he smiled, “we went down to Sherwin-Williams.” There they got the help, hints, and hues they needed to start the project out on the right foot.
Brito had asked Friemel to do the murals in charcoal and paint, both mediums of art that Friemel wasn’t particularly experienced with. In fact, he hated both charcoal and painting in school. As a left hander, charcoal was especially frustrating to work with on the count that he was always smearing his work.
But what had once been his Achilles’ heal, now became his crowning glory. Alone in the church with just the walls and his tools, Friemel was able to “kick off his sandals” and enjoy his time. “It was just so much fun, I had a blast with it,” he enthused.
Friemel’s first mural, done in charcoal, depicts Jesus beaming at a little boy he holds in his arms. This beautiful master piece, a favorite of Brito’s, took Friemel a mere five hours to draw-- which may seem like a lot, but once you see the detail and life-like expression on the faces, you wonder how he did it.
“I don’t believe in using projectors, or ‘cheating,’” he said with a twinkle in his eyes and a resulting laugh from Brito, who was present for the interview with the Brand. Friemel did however base the murals off of much smaller pictures or images he had seen before. This technically classifies his murals as copy work, meaning he only puts his initials on the work rather than a full John Hancock. Of course, the end results aren’t a perfect replica, but uniquely his.
The painted mural, which takes up a majority of one large wall, was first done in charcoal, then gone over with paint. “The first night I didn’t rush myself. It was a learning experience for me to use paint. It was really fun to work with the textured walls.” Those textured walls, which at first may have seemed a hindrance, Friemel found actually aided in making details, such as Jesus’ beard, stand out.
Using five basic colors, Friemel was able to paint, free handed of course, a beautiful image in a total of around 12 hours, broken up over the course of two evenings. The scenery that makes up about half of the painting was “generic” he said, a statement which warranted another laugh from Brito. “What I really like is drawing faces and people.”
It doesn’t take long being in Friemel’s presence to realize he approaches life in an easy, content and joyful manner, which is reflected in his art. So is a love for what he does and the church. “Since I’ve started painting this year, I’ve realized how much I truly love it.”
And the children of Trinity Fellowship have come to truly love their new nursery, along with everyone who has seen the murals. “They are just in awe,” breathed Brito, “the murals are just so life like.” In Friemel’s painted mural, Jesus is holding a little girl while surrounded by children. Brito loves the expression on the little girl’s face, “You can just see Jesus reflected in her eyes.”
Already, the church has received visits from strangers who have heard of the murals and wish to see for themselves. “I think this is going to snow-ball,” Brito stated matter-of-factly, “Already it has blessed a lot of people,” and the church fully expects to see many more.
Leaving behind a job well done, Friemel is rich in experience, but that is all. He leaves with no more money in his pockets than when he started, but that’s the way he likes it. “It wasn’t a job,” he points out, “it was a way of me blessing them. I like the way this church has reached out to the community in doing non-denominational things. To me, this was a reflection of what they were doing, instead of just doing things for my own church or for pay.”
Working with no pay in return, at least monetarily, was actually a blessing, allowing Friemel to enjoy each moment without concern of delivering something perfect. “I did this for free, and it was stress-free.”
Friemel does however sell his art to the public. His web-site, a mere two-week old newborn in the world of cyber space, features a gallery of his exquisite work and means by which to contact the artist. You can visit this site at www.randyfriemel.com. To any interested person, he also offers custom work.
In the future, Friemel has plans within the next year to hold an art show with a pro-life theme. This would be his second show, his first being an exhibit at a gallery in Canyon about a year and a half ago, which has since been moved to Amarillo. Before he can hold his intended show, there are a few more pieces that need to be done. “Hopefully I have a lot more to come.”
All and all, Friemel feels pleased about his recent undertaking at the nursery. “It seems like it all just worked out easily. I’ve done things a lot smaller and more simple that seemed much harder. You know there had to be a Hand working in this.”
