Kobe Bryant // Black Mamba by Charna Painting

Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, now living and painting out of beautiful British Columbia, Canada, I’m a mother of two boys and recent grandmother of two more wonderful children. Growing up my family told stories of how I would draw on anything and everything. Art was my language of choice as, rather than speaking, I almost always prefered to draw. My whole world changed as a child when my mother, who was an interior designer, took me to art galleries and museums where I discovered the works of Rembrandt, Degas and Bouguereau. From that point my love for painting continued as an obsession with realism. Hours upon hours spent refining every last detail. Later I drew upon my childhood experience of ballet and other forms of dance to incorporate motion and grace into my art. Now, more than 30 years after my first oil painting, I try to infuse elements of both realism and impressionism into my work, where detail is present but emotion is priority.