I often feel a serene exhilaration in nature that might be akin to what Inness evokes in his paintings. A recent visit to the Thomas Cole House gave me a deeper appreciation for Montclair’s own, as Catskill’s older artist expressed mysticism by painting in distant shimmering castles and implausible figures, while Inness’ spirituality comes across through the intensity of his personal approach to paint. The Pond’s painterly character comes from combining the original photo with a blurred version of its negative and repeating.