Honcho Poncho: The Tiny Instagram Donkey

I'm taking a break from the blog. Please peruse the older posts to learn more about some of my favorite painted feathers in the few past years. The blog is a nice archive of some of my past work.

In the meantime, I invite you to follow me on Instagram where I post one new photo each day under the username @elainemaisel. I share my painted feather work every few days, but am focused mostly on sharing the daily adventures of my tiny donkey, Honcho Poncho.

Honcho Poncho sleeps in a little tin matchbox that I keep in my purse or pocket when I travel through my day. When he's with me, I see possibilities and beauty in small things that I might have otherwise missed.

Find all his adventures at #honchoponcho on Instagram, where the hashtag is also occasionally occupied by little dogs named Honcho Poncho, men in camping gear, and a band from Seattle by the same name.

Cheers, y'all.
Elaine

Three years have passed

I use bent paperclips to hang my framed feathers at shows. This is one of the paper clips my father bent for me at the Daphne Jubilee, October 2012, a few weeks before he passed away. He took the time to straighten them out, rather than turning them with the simple twist I use. He wasn't feeling well that day....grouchy and stiff and frustrated....and frustrating.... There was more love and support in his actions than i felt or realized at the time. I think of him each time I have a show and come across one of his paper clips, and I was thinking of him today, as the anniversary of his passing three years ago nears. Love you, Dad.

Spotty Kokopelli

Kokopelli. 

Feather: Mississippi Wild Turkey

Width of feather: 2.5"

Buck Humperdink

Buck Humperdink is especially fond of stinky French cheeses and Earl Grey tea with cream and sugar. 

Feather: Chicken feather from a pet that lives in Ocean Springs, MS

Length: 2"

Mr. Brinks

My husband fell in love with this little bird, so we kept him. 

He hangs in our kitchen above the knife block. 

Size: 3x3" Frame

Feather: Domestic Turkey

I sell on Etsy. My activity there is small compared to sales though my own website, in local galleries like the Mississippi Craft Center, and at arts festivals like the Mississippi Craft Show. Even though Etsy is a big, huge rambling site that has, in many ways, jumped the shark, I enjoy connecting with individuals customers from across the country and around the world. These conversations usually come up when people place gift orders and custom requests that include special instructions. I've traveled a lot and lived in several places as well, so there aren't many degrees of separation between places I've experienced and the shipping addresses I enter.

simple, but not easy

One of the radio programs that I listen to each week, either live through public radio or on-demand as a podcast is On Being with Krista Tippett. I always come away with new perspectives about myself and the world. Accompanying the podcast is a blog that includes articles by different contributing authors. I have long been fascinated by fractals and the title of yesterday's post caught my eye: 

The Fractal Moment: An Invitation to Begin Again by Sharon Salzberg 

The short piece is about letting go, but the paragraph the really resonated with me was this:

"In actuality, meditation is simple, but not easy: you rest your attention on something like the breath in order to stay present, and, as thoughts carry you away, you begin again an incalculable number of times. That is why meditation is a practice. It is this practice of training one’s attention that makes meditation so powerful."

Everything we do can be be broken down into simple principles, and everything is improved with mindful practice. Every unseen gesture, every small decision contributes to the whole. Each small act is simple, but not necessarily easy. Practice. 

Size: 8" long
Feather: Domestic Goose, from a small farm in Pennsylvania