Karen Wilkinson
Illustration, Printmaking, Mixed Media
Art that is rooted in close observation, curiosity, and admiration for the natural world.
Directions to Studio #6 at 1000 Annapolis Road, Suite 7, The Sea Ranch: From Hwy 1, take Annapolis Road and continue 0.5 miles. 1000 Annapolis is first driveway on the right after crossing Timber Ridge Road. We're next to the wine shop.
Studio Tour Hours
Aug. 29-30 & Sept. 5-7
11 am to 5 pm
My studio is also open year-round by appointment.
Botanical Illustration & Photography
Karen Wilkinson is a Northern California–based botanical artist and environmental designer working somewhere between field notes and daydreams. With 30+ years orbiting the museum world, her practice is fueled by a quiet obsession with how nature reveals itself—patterns, structures, and the blink-and-you-miss-it details hiding in plain sight.
A lifelong tinkerer, Karen treats making as a kind of slow looking. Her botanical illustration practice grew out of collaborations with botanists, plant surveys of The Sea Ranch, and deep dives into plant morphology at the New York Botanical Garden—part science, part reverie. The result is a visual language tuned to connection, nuance, and ecological awareness without the preachiness.
Her work has shown up in exhibitions across the globe, balancing scientific clarity with a loose, almost meditative vibe. She moves between drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography, letting process lead and outcomes follow—more wandering than arriving.
For Karen, making is how you pay attention. Outside the studio, she curates and leads creative learning endeavors around the world, inviting people to get their hands dirty and look a little closer. Tinkering together!