Artist: Nikolai Astrup (1880–1928)
Title: Norwegian: St. Hansbål ved Jølstervatnet,
English: Midsummer Eve Bonfire by Lake Jølstravatnet
Date: 1909
Medium: oil on canvas
Inscription: Signature bottom right: NASTRUP
What I love about this painting:
This is a scene that is full of life, family, and tradition. I love the intensity of color, the way people are shown enjoying the company of their loved ones.
Midsummer Eve is the best part of summer. The weather usually cooperates, allowing for an outdoor picnic that goes late into the night. In Norway and in Scandinavian countries, the eve of the Birth of St. John is celebrated with a communal bonfire. The celebration is also known as Jonsok, meaning “the wake of Saint John.”
The summer solstice has just passed and the longest days of the year are upon us. Twilight lasts long into the evening. Nicolai Astrup has shown us a cozy celebration of family and friends gathered at a place he clearly loved. They light bonfires to celebrate the birth of a saint, but more than that, they are there to share the holiday with the people they love.
About the Artist, via Wikipedia:
Nikolai Astrup (Norwegian pronunciation: [nɪkʊˈlɑ̀i̯ ˈɑ̀stɾʉp]) (30 August 1880 – 21 January 1928) was a Norwegian modernist painter. Astrup was a distinctive, innovative artist noted principally for his intense use of color depicting the lush landscapes of Vestlandet featuring the traditional way of life in the region.
Astrup held three significant exhibitions during his lifetime; at Kristiania 1905 and 1911 and at Bergen in 1908. In 1907, he was married to Engel Sunde with whom he had eight children. Astrup struggled with tuberculosis and general poor health as his asthma worsened. In 1913, Astrup settled with his wife and children in Sandalstrand (now Astruptunet) on the south side of Lake Jølstravatn across from the village of Ålhus. He died of pneumonia in 1928 at the age of 47 in the neighboring municipality of Førde. Astrup was buried in Ålhus Cemetery, in Jølster Norway. [1]
Credits and Attributions:
IMAGE: Nikolai Astrup, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons contributors. File:N Astrup-St. Hansbål ved Jølstervatnet.jpg [Internet]. Wikimedia Commons; 2024 May 31, 05:34 UTC [cited 2024 Jul 17]. Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:N_Astrup-St._Hansb%C3%A5l_ved_J%C3%B8lstervatnet.jpg&oldid=880323847.
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Nikolai Astrup,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nikolai_Astrup&oldid=1156381035 (accessed July 17, 2024).
I’m not educated as an art historian and would never claim to be one. I’m just a woman who loves the paintings of great artists because they tell a story. Thanks to Wikimedia Commons, an online museum of sorts, anyone with access to the internet can see the great art and photography of the past and the present.
I love the chaos in this painting. Is this a New Year’s party? Whatever they are celebrating, they’re having a great time.
Perhaps so. But take the time to write those thoughts down. Your notes could become a storyboard, which could become a novel.
Artist: John Constable (1776–1837)
The posts I wrote for that first attempt at blogging were pathetic attempts to write about current affairs and politics as a journalist, which is something that has never interested me. I was lucky if I managed to post one piece a month and had no readers or followers.
Books.
I often hear writers complain that they don’t update their author blogs regularly because they have nothing to say. I disagree—they’re writers. Writers have passions and the ability to spew words out the ends of their fingers on the oddest subjects.
I’ve made many friends through this writing adventure. I now know people from all over the world who I may never meet in person but who I am fond of, nevertheless.
Life in the Realm of Fantasy has evolved over the years because I have changed and matured as an author.
Artist: Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
I write what I am in the mood to read, so my genre is usually a fantasy of one kind or another. However, I sometimes go nuts and write women’s fiction.
But regardless of the genre, the basic premise of any story can be answered in eight questions that we will ask of the characters.
And thus Julian Lackland and Lady Mags were born, and Huw the Bard and Golden Beau. But they needed a place to live, so along came Billy Ninefingers, captain of the Rowdies, and his inn, Billy’s Revenge. When I first met Billy and his colorful crew of mercenaries, I was hooked. I had to write the tale that became three novels: Julian Lackland, Billy Ninefingers, and Huw the Bard. 
Artist: 
Mood and atmosphere are separate but entwined forces. They form subliminal impressions in the reader’s awareness, subcurrents that affect our personal emotions.
Subtext is a complex but essential aspect of storytelling. It lies below the surface and supports the plot and the conversations. It is the hidden story, the secret reasoning we deduce from the narrative. It’s conveyed by the images we place in the environment and how the setting influences our perception of the mood and atmosphere.
We want to avoid excessive exposition, and good worldbuilding can help us with that. Let’s say we want to convey a general atmosphere of gloom and show our character’s mood without an info dump. Environmental symbols are subliminal landmarks for the reader. Thinking about and planning symbolism in an environment is key to developing the general atmosphere and affecting the overall mood.
When we are designing the setting of a scene, which aspect of atmosphere is more important, mood or emotion? As I have said before, both and neither because they are entwined. Our characters’ emotions affect their attitudes toward each other and influence how they view their quest. This, in turn, shapes the overall mood of the characters as they move through the arc of the plot. And the visual atmosphere of a particular environment may affect our protagonist’s personal mood. Their individual attitudes affect the emotional state of the group—the overall mood.
We can create an atmosphere and mood that underscores our themes and highlights plot points without resorting to info dumps. We can lighten the mood as easily as we can darken it. When we design a setting, color brightens the visuals, and gray depresses them. Those tones affect the atmosphere and mood of the scene.
Artist: Elin Danielson-Gambogi (1861–1919)
Intelligent creatures communicate in their own languages with each other, sounds that we humans interpret as random and meaningless or simply mating calls. But scientists are discovering their vocalizations must have meanings beyond attracting a mate, words that are understood by others of their kind. This is evident in the way they form herds and packs and flocks, societies with rules and hierarchies.
We humans are tribal. We prefer living within an overarching power structure (a society) because someone has to be the leader. We call that power structure a government.
Worldbuilding requires us to ask questions of the story we are writing. I go somewhere quiet and consider the world my characters will inhabit. I have a list of points to consider when creating a society, and you’re welcome to copy and paste it to a page you can print out. Jot the answers down and refer back to them if the plot raises one of these questions.
Power in the hands of only a few people offers many opportunities for mayhem. Zealous followers may inadvertently create a situation where the populace believes their ruler has been anointed by the Supreme Deity. Even better, they may become the God-Emperor/Empress.
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 