West Coast to East Coast. Revisiting the move

Wow! I found this DRAFT of a post from 5 years ago, never published. Putting it out there in the world now, as I like how this marks a moment in time. 

So, here it is, our transition from West Coast life to East Coast life. 

Let's just say that I've settled in and have been very productive during this time in life and the studio. Follow me on IG for the most current happenings https://www.instagram.com/gisellegautreau.artist/

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So many things happen in a year.

I've moved back to the East Coast.  We're now back in Virginia... Charlottesville to be exact.  In some ways it's like a homecoming.  D and I lived here quite some time ago when he was a grad student at UVA.  At that time I kept various jobs and maintained a studio at the McGuffey Art Center, a wonderful artist-run space near the historic downtown mall.  I was such a kid then!  Early 20's.  But I found my art community then, and I'm finding it now.  While we were getting ready to move across country, I went ahead and applied for membership at McGuffey.  I was told there was a long waiting list for studios.  Somehow everything came together last summer.  We got the house we wanted & my kids got into the schools they wanted.  And as we drove across country, I got a call that informed me that not only was I accepted as a member of McGuffey, that there was a studio waiting for me.

As you can imagine, it's been a long and time-consuming process.  The decision to move.  The process of getting our California house ready for the market and making our goodbyes to our friends and community of almost 10 years.  The endless packing and purging of extra things.  Kids finishing their school year with all of this happening.  Packing up my studio.

And then there was the starting up of our lives on this coast.  The unpacking.  The settling into our new home, new community, new logistics.  I moved into my new studio, but it's taken some time to get into the swing of things.

I like things calm and stable to be productive.  Let's just say that 2016 was not the most productive year for me in the studio.  Yet... I made new work!  Part of me is still informed and enamored of the spectacular landscape of the West coast... and I'm just over the moon excited to get reacquainted with the East Coast again.