image = cv.imread("someimage.jpg", 1)
dims = image.shape
image = image.ravel()
cppextenionmodule.np_to_mat(dims, image)

static PyObject *np_to_mat(PyObject *self, PyObject *args){
    PyObject *size;
    PyArrayObject *image;

    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O!O!", &PyTuple_Type, &size, &PyArray_Type, &image)) {
        return NULL;
    }
    int rows = PyLong_AsLong(PyTuple_GetItem(size ,0));
    int cols = PyLong_AsLong(PyTuple_GetItem(size ,1));
    int nchannels = PyLong_AsLong(PyTuple_GetItem(size ,2));
    char my_arr[rows * nchannels * cols];

    for(size_t length = 0; length<(rows * nchannels * cols); length++){
        my_arr[length] = (*(char *)PyArray_GETPTR1(image, length));
    }

    cv::Mat my_img = cv::Mat(cv::Size(cols, rows), CV_8UC3, &my_arr);

    ...
}