“We came to the States on a working holiday in 1973, and simply never moved back to England,” Attwooll says. “We came to Tryon in 2010. My mom and dad live in Tryon. Life here is a wonderful journey, and they’re only six miles away now.”

Attwooll’s led an exciting, vibrant life. She and her husband have been married for 47 years. They have a son and daughter, and they raised their children in a boatyard on the Olympic Peninsula. Now the kids have grown, off to Wisconsin and Virginia, and she has two granddaughters, too. She’d like to have everyone close by, but the distance does make for wonderful visits.

“My heaven would be a room with many doors, and every door will take me to the people I love, forever,” Attwooll  says. “When we left Port Angeles, a dear friend gave her blessing: May angels line the roadways.”

Attwooll’s fascination with line and color began at age five. She loved pink and blue and always wanted to put those colors together. Now, she paints watercolors and prints exquisite cards. Her cards have been sold in more than 150 stores.

“Art grounds us in the present moment, not in the past or future, but in the now,” Attwooll says. “When you’re focusing on painting, you don’t bring your worries and frets with you.”

She likes to share her secrets. She uses a fingernail to delineate the delicate branches of a tree, and she makes rocks with a credit card.

“A puddle of periwinkle with a touch of ochre becomes a gray, hazy sky,” she says. “I take a credit card to force the pigment down, and darken at the shadows.”

Even on a rainy day, Attwooll’s studio feels full of light. She gets particularly busy during the holiday season, making personalized holiday cards at a very reasonable price. Sometimes people will want families or pets featured on their holiday cards, and Attwooll  imbues each card with the special energy of her own joy and talent. She also teaches watercolor classes, and she can be reached at kim@asmallworkofart.com, with a website at handmadecardsbykim.com.

As the afternoon wanes, Attwooll gestures to a lovely, tall rosemary bush at the edge of her door, saying, “Take some home! I’m glad to share. It’s what to do with abundance.”