Born in Melbourne, 1959, daughter of painter Charles Blackman and writer Barbara Blackman.  Childhood shuffled around Europe and Australia, London, Brisbane, Paris & Sydney.  Christabel speaks english, spanish, italian, french and valencian.  She attained a Diploma in Restoration of Easel Painting from Istituto per l’Arte e il Restauro, in Florence, Italy (1984-86). 

In 1986 she moved to Valencia, Spain and married Miguelangel Medina.  She has three children, Pepa, Miguel and Gabriel.  She has a major studio in Valencia and is a free-lance painting conservator, specializing in gothic and renaisance paintings. She has worked for many public galleries, ecclesiastical collections, public institutions as well as the private sector. She is currently doing a Master Postgraduate in Conservation at the Univesity of Politecnics in Valencia.   

She has always painted and from an early age was taken into her father’s studio to paint and sit for portraits.  She studied life-drawing for over a decade and has attended many courses in painting, printmaking, photography, etc.  Her father taught her a lot about painting tecniques, and about the importance of the image and it’s unique language.  She has held several exhibitions and participated in numerous group show.  She has won several art prizes and has work in collections in Australia and Europe.