Christopher Blossom was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Earl, and his grandfather, David, by becoming a commercial artist. He studied illustration at the Parsons School of Design in New York and worked in an industrial design studio, learning to interpret blueprints, which served him well in studying old ships. He worked as a freelance illustrator of books and magazines but wanted out of New York: "I went crazy with all the tall buildings in New York" (Art of the West 11/98).

In the late 1970s, he turned from illustration to marine painting and focused on the integrity of the historical aspects of his subjects. He became a charter member and former president of the American Society of Marine Artists. In the mid-1990s, his interest in landscape painting was stirred. He accepted an invitation from Forbes Inc. to participate in a plein-air painting trip to their corporate ranch in Colorado, and he has also done backpacking in Wyoming which gave him more western landscape subject matter. He combines the landscapes with his original focus of historical marine painting which became ingrained from his origins in Connecticut.