From Behind the Easel
Oct 25, 2025
I am delighted to speak to you from behind my own easel this week. There is a new painting that is very special to me. The subject is our family home on Sullivan’s Island, SC, which has been the Blanchard home for 7 generations.
Some of you will recognize this great marble walkway and entrance.
It is a little tired, but at over 200 years old, that’s to be expected. My grandfather and his friend Edward laid those marble pieces together many, many years ago.
I started the painting on a large canvas with a charcoal sketch.
SO MANY STRAIGHT LINES
.
I realized that my previous painting of this porch was within my view on the mantle as I started this one!
Here is the sketch completed.
This view is on the right side of the front door. The dining / party room. I wonder how many times “Happy Birthday” has been sung around that table?
This porch has held all my people – while they nursed their sunburns, visited with one another, and told stories – old and new.
See the little addition in the rear on the right? That was my room when I was there.
Here is where I’ll leave it for this week. Starting to block in color.
While I am painting, my mind’s eye can hear children playing, smell okra soup cooking, see all my aunts and uncles coming and going, and taste the salt in the air.
Of South Carolina porches…..
“As a child in South Carolina, I spent summers like so many children – sitting on my grandparents’ back porch with my siblings, spitting watermelon seeds into the garden or, even worse, swallowing them and trembling as my older brother and sister spoke of the vine that was probably already growing in my belly.”
Wanted to share that one of my star students, Roxanne Poole, has been honored with a Merit Award at the SC State Fair! So very proud of her.
Thank you so much for your interest in my painting practice. Please stay tuned as I share this process.
Michel
23 Comments
Leave a Comment
It was good to hear some of your history. It is so uncommon now days to have such a multigenerational piece of property still in one family. If those walls could talk, the stories they could tell. Thank you for sharing a bit of those conversations.
Charlie! Nothing is the same without you. Hope I get to see you in your Santa shorts this year! : )
Oh Michel it’s looking amazing. Plus, you’re a wonderful storyteller on top of being an incredibly talented artist!! Love you!! Tina
Thank you so much.
I’ll never forget the good times with you and the girls at the lake house. So good to hear from you and your new project. I can almost smell the sea. Keep on painting those canvases. Love and thanks for the memories
We certainly had some good times together. I miss you.
Can’t wait to see the work of love you’re doing. I’ll keep this post to show Janet when I get home. Love seeing you finally get to unleash your wonderful talent
Jimmy
Thank you so much Jimmy. You and Janet are so very supportive. I appreciate it so much.
Absolutely beautiful. Can’t wait to see final painting
Me too. This is a detailed one for sure.
Thank you, Michel, for encouraging me to begin my dream of learning to paint! You are an inspiration in so many ways – not just an artist, but a writer! Your description of the old family beach house and wonderful experiences there brings back my own feelings of our beach house destroyed by hurricane Hazel.
All it takes is a will and a way. You have the will, now practice is the way. Looking forward to working with you.
I enjoyed reading this so much and seeing all the sketches. I am a bit jealous of your wonderful memories, although I have many myself from Tybee Island. My grandmother built a large cottage on the Oceanside in the 1930s and my family got to enjoy it for a couple of weeks each summer for many many years.
Grandmothers are the best! Tybee and surrounding area are just beautiful. I could paint there forever.
I love how you capture your memories ❤️
You are an inspiration to us all
They capture me. : )
Going along nice Josephine!
That made me smile. How Clever for you to remember that saying. Bill Waithe was my teacher then. : )
Michel, I can feel the love that old house holds in the hearts and memories of you and your family! I see why you wanted to paint it. That house will always be alive because of the love and memories shared by you and your family through the years.How blessed y’all were to have had that gathering place in your family! AMAZING how you have captured every detail, the tin roof, wooden boards! I’d LOVE to walk through that front door and take a peek! You’re amazing Michel!
Michel, I can feel the love that old house holds in the hearts and memories of you and your family! I see why you wanted to paint it. That house will always be alive because of the love and memories shared by you and your family through the years.How blessed y’all were to have had that gathering place in your family! AMAZING how you have captured every detail, the tin roof, wooden boards! I’d LOVE to walk through that front door and take a peek! You’re amazing Michel!
Thank you for seeing so much in my work. It is all there for me too. Sounds, smells, sunburn, mosquitos! lol. If you were to peek in the front door, you would see to your right a fireplace. The mantle and surroundings were built by my great-grandfather, who also helped build Stella Maris Catholic Church. He was a wood worker and had many Italian friends who worked on the statuary in the church. He had a statue of the Virgin Mary made for each of his daughters. I still have one of them.
Thank you for sharing your process. Yesterday I was looking at the landscapes I painted in your class and reflected on all the aspects of painting you taught us. Including composition, color theory, contrast, and brushwork. I am grateful for your guidance.
The flagstone path looks familiar. I can see why you wanted one in your home backyard.
I never thought of that! I have always cherished that walkway. Everyone in the family does too. Thank you for remembering my classes fondly. I appreciate it very much.