Kathleen McKeehen

Teaches at Shambhala Meditation Center of San Diego

Kathleen first discovered botanical painting in 1995, in a class taught by Seattle’s Louise Smith.  She was then accepted by the UCSanta Cruz’s post-grad Natural Science Illustration program in 1998 and spent an intense year in Santa Cruz learning various methods of science illustration, and deciding that the research and the art of science illustration really appealed to her.  After an internship at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, she returned to the US and began to build my freelance career while living in a decidedly rustic cabin in Indianola, Washington. Jobs ranged from magazine covers for Herb Companion to several children’s books featuring wolf cubs and young skunks; one of her favorite assignments was to illustrate a series of games, posters, and workbooks based on the Lewis and Clark expedition–she learned a lot about the journey and it offered the opportunity to paint a wide variety of animals, plants, people, and places.

By 2006, Kathleen was shifting from freelancing to teaching, beginning with classes at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle, and over the next few years adding classes in other venues; she currently teach at CUH, Gage Academy of Art in Seattle,  the Winslow Art Center, as well as occasionally offering studio classes at her studio (no longer the rustic cabin!) in Indianola.