Botke was born in Leeuwarden, Holland, son of a horticulturalist. He studied at the School for Applied Design in Haarlem before immigrating to the U.S. in 1908. He first went to Kenosha Wisconsin and then to Chicago where he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1915 he married artist Jessie Arms.

In 1919, the Botkes moved to Carmel, where he taught at Carmel Arts & Crafts.

In 1927, they made their final move to a ranch near Santa Paula, California, where they shared a studio and became active in the California Art Club.

Botke is primarily known as a landscape painter in oil, but was also an etcher and printmaker. His many U.S. exhibits included the Los Angeles County Museum Paris Salon in 1924 and the International Exhibition of Contemporary Prints of the Art Institute of Chicago at the Century on Progress Exposition in Chicago in 1934.