5-Year Blogiversary Week – Day 2 – My Top Ten Posts (and my musings about them)

It’s fun to look over the dashboard and watch my stats improve over time. And I have noticed posts that I wrote years ago that are STILL getting a lot of attention. Here is a list and evaluation about my TOP TEN BLOG POSTS over the entire five years I’ve been blogging. It’s a testimony to show that tagging and headlining your posts with popular interests can get some good traffic on your blog!

Some of these are mysteries, though, as to how they made top ten!

# 1 TOP POST – Farewell to Opus and Bill – My Personal Heroes!

When I was an Ornament Designer, my biggest thrill was getting to communicate with Berkeley Breathed (in writing, anyway) as the unofficial Opus ornament designer. Most awesome was when he created a special sketch just for me! In this post I show some of my fan art of Opus and Bill  🙂

# 2 TOP POST – Creative Dreams!

I’m surprised that this rose to the top of the charts. It was just a casual musing, and somehow got a lot of hits!

#3 TOP POST – Finding Faith in Finding Nemo

One of my very favorite blog posts I’ve ever written!

#4 TOP POST – Blogtoberfest, The Hobbit, and an Airplane Napkin

Evidence that including a popular subject in your title will cause some accidental traffic on your blog!

#5 TOP POST – Doggie Caricatures at the Cleveland Crown Classic

I guess a lot of people Google “doggie caricatures!”  🙂

#6 TOP POST – Brian Froud’s Dark Crystal

This one was also interesting to see on the top 10 list. It’s a very brief musing, again, very casual. Just felt like posting it one day.

#7 TOP POST – Signs – No Such Thing as Coincidence

Was thrilled to see this rise to the top 10 list! I had fun writing this article. A concept I had to share.

#8 TOP POST – Holy Water Painting – Luke 23:34

Holy Water Painting, Batman!!! (sorry, I just had to)

#8 TOP POST – Authentic Holy Water Paintings

Was thrilled to see my Holy Watercolor Painting posts rise to the top ten list. This nudged me to get these on Etsy!! Here’s hoping the subject gets good traffic there as well! We’ll see!

#9 TOP POST – Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up!

I’m pleased as punch that this has had so many visits! It’s a mystery to me why, unless people Google Churchill and this quote a lot.

#10 TOP POST – Authentic Holy Water Paintings

Yep – a big kick in the pants for me to get my Holy Water Paintings up on Etsy!

When Penguins Fly…

Here is a marvelous little ad for the BBC. I thought I’d have fun with my daughter and show her some YouTube videos to show her what penguins look like in action. We stumbled across this wonderful video while doing our Penguin research project. I had to confirm to her that it wasn’t real – that penguins really can’t fly. But what an inspiring sight, anyway!

Forget that it’s fiction. The wonderful thing I see in this is how we are able to make our visions real. I watched this laughing my head off at first, over and over. I love the toucan watching curiously while hundreds of pudgy penguins drop from the sky (HILARIOUS!). But humor aside, it really is quite a marvel that we as people are able to make the imaginary a reality. Watching these penguins struggle to lift off, I CHEER as I watch them finally make it into the air, and I love the way they flap their wings passionately to stay in flight! I feel this same way when I see people I know overcome their own heavy obstacles and I applaud enthusiastically as I witness their miracles of FLIGHT! 

I suppose I feel this way because it gives me hope for my own dreams, and it proves to me that dreams do come true.

I knew I’d have to post this one in my blog and ask the questions,

“What have you been telling yourself you’ll never be able to do?”

“Do you have a dream that has never left you your whole life?”

“Oh, yeah,” you tell yourself, “I’ll do it… when penguins fly!”

Well, here you go! What are you waiting for?

Time for your dream to LIFT OFF!

Farewell to Opus & Bill – My Personal Heroes!

Taken from one of my favorite strips!

Taken from one of my favorite strips!

sketch by Wendy

sketches by Wendy (college)

Caricature of my dad – by Wendy

A gift for my dad – by Wendy

Ornament Team ’97

My first Opus ornament design!

Opus ornament

Bloom County mimics life.

Thanks from Berkeley

I’ve just learned that Berkeley Breathed has retired as a cartoonist (after 30 years in the field) and will be concentrating his career on illustrating children’s books.

There’s a good article on washingtonpost.com with more detailed info about Berkeley’s retirement and career past as cartoonist for “Bloom County” which turned into “Outland” and finally “Opus.”

My dad and I shared a love for Opus & Bill cartoons, as you’ll notice from my small gallery of Opus & Bill sketches. While my dad was working for Wells Fargo on the armored truck, I sketched out a few cartoons for him as gifts per request. It was perhaps my first practice at drawing licensed characters (while in high school).

When I joined the Ornament Team at American Greetings in 1997, I was thrilled to find Opus & Bill on the spreadsheet and jumped at the chance to design ornaments for Berkeley’s beloved characters. It was thrilling for me to see some of Berkeley’s own sketches come through as I collaborated with him (long-distance through Jeffrey Conrad) to develop the ornament designs. I also made it a point to make sure every year he was given his own sample of the finished product for his collection. Working with Berkeley will always be remembered as a special perk!

As Berkeley gives focus to his own pursuits as a book illustrator, I begin my own journey into my dream field of book illustration as well. I’ve been given the ol’ divine kick in the pants into the realm of “Freelancer.”

Hey, Berkeley! Need a second pair of hands?