Resident Art Show Highlights Talent inside The Summit

Miss Craig, a third grade teacher, gave Jim McSlarrow the push needed to pursue art.

“Grade school teachers are phenomenal. Miss Craig said, ‘Jimmy, your pine tree is really, really good and it just stuck. It was just enough encouragement to make me want to keep doing something with paints and crayons.”

A retired colonel in the U.S. Army, Jim painted German street scenes. He was stationed in Germany and also served two tours in Vietnam. He was a reservist in the U.S. Navy before joining the Army.

Jim’s artwork, done mostly with a painting knife, reflects his love of America’s national parks, including Grand Teton, Glacier and Canyonlands. “I think the most wonderful spot in America is the Colorado plateau,” he said. “It’s like our Maker opened that up for us to study and enjoy and that’s why I do what I do.”

He studied geology in college, earning a full scholarship to the University of Oklahoma to run track. He ran the Marine Corps Marathon twice, once while 50 years old.

Jim and his wife, Susan, who retired from the U.S. Department of Defense, moved to The Summit in November and Jim has been working to set up a studio in the garage. “I haven’t done this for a long time, but I’d like to start again.”

The first project on his list: fulfilling a promise to Susan to paint the view from their Smith Mountain Lake home.

“We have hundreds of pictures on the lake and he promised he would paint it for me,” she said.

Donna Cone’s love of painting started with an art class over 20 years ago.

She first studied at Central Virginia Community College before taking additional classes at The Art Box and Lynchburg Art Club.

“I was working as a volunteer at a soup kitchen and saw something about the college having art classes,” she said. “A bell just rang for me and I thought, ‘I’m going to explore this,’ and I’ve been at it ever since.”She studied drawing first and moved to painting, focusing on landscapes, portraits and florals.

Each week, she spends hours in art class. “It’s not as much fun painting by yourself as it is with people,” she said.

She and her husband, Herman, moved from Goode into a new Northside Cottage at The Summit in December.

Her work revolves around filling their wall space. “I’m painting now to decorate our cottage,” she said.

She started in acrylics before transitioning to oil paints. She’s using acrylics again.

A member of Seven Hills Art Club, Donna has displayed paintings at The Summit in the past. “I really like it at The Summit,” she said. “I’ve liked everybody that I’ve met so far.”