Member-only story
Finally I Could Afford to Volunteer— Fourth Quarter Begins pg 284
Colorful companion to my memoir The Incompetent Psychic
Another luxury once the estate was settled and my credit debt erased was an ability to say yes when asked to help with more elaborate worthy causes. I was invited along with 23 other artists to decorate/paint large fiberglass jackrabbits to benefit the Vacaville Art Museum. They supplied each artist with a rabbit and $200 for supplies.
At the artist’s kick-off party I got a lucky draw out of the top hat. Vacaville Performing Arts Theater became my sponsor, and inspiration to do my ‘We Know Jack’ rabbit as a Shakespearian actor. I glued on appliqués of recently inherited ribbon, crocheted fabrics, lace, buttons, mom’s junk jewelry and granny’s stained doilies for cuffs, then primed the whole thing and gave it multiple glaze coats using the cheesecloth technique I’d perfected on thousands of frames.
Will Rabbit turned out pretty adorable in pink and red. I won the thousand dollar People’s Choice award, and he got bid to over $6500 for the museum when the hammer came down. My rabbit became part of the city’s permanent art collection, and lives in the theater…
