Christine O’Brien was born in Philadelphia but she was raised in Chicago. Her passion for painting and drawing started at age 5 because she used to help her mother to paint her siblings’ portraits – her mother was also an artist. Christine was awarded a scholarship to Stephens College in Columbia to study fine art. At the college, she completed a painstaking program of classical instruction. While at the college, during her junior year, she was selected as the only recipient for an independent study in advanced experimental drawing with head of the art college, Gardiner McCauley. Her final project, a 5-ft square mixed media portrait can be seen in the college’s reception area and is also appearing in the curriculum catalog. Christine believes in creating paintings that instill a message of calm realism. Her inspirations for imagery come from her surroundings, such as he browsing local resale shops and the coastal terrain of California for nostalgic collectables.
She uses references from both photography and life to render concepts with spatial but strong relationships, many layers of intricate brushwork and subtle gradations of color. This combination creates tranquil yet striking scenes of reality. After her graduation, she worked in Chicago, her hometown, as a creative director, illustrator and graphic designer. In the early 1990s, Christine shifted to painting using the style of realism. She develops dramatic detail through tightly defined brushwork and detailed layers of colors to capture a moment in time. Currently, Christine works and lives in California and is collected throughout the United States and abroad.
