I love teaching children and adults to draw and to paint. I miss it so much!
For twenty years in Spain and until I moved to London to accelerate my career as a Portrait Painter I ran my own art school which I founded and developed for 3-18 years olds, as well as adults. A feature of my teaching is that I always taught them in the English language. I have also experience in teaching in primary schools as a teaching assistant for the charity Real Action which has got a literacy program in schools in west London with children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts with Honours from University of Seville, Spain and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education from the Spanish Institute of Educational Sciences.
I have always been interested in education and firmly believe everyone can learn to draw and to paint if well taught. My dynamic system to teach can be found in this newspaper article.

http://elpais.com/diario/2004/12/07/andalucia/1102375353_850215.html

MARIA BERNAL DIAZ
merybernaldiza@gmail.com

My name is Maria Bernal Diaz, I am a current Fine Arts student at Hunter College, New York. I met Mercedes Carbonell eleven years ago at Sevilla, Spain, where she was my painting teacher for more than a year. Since I met her, my goal has always been to study and dedicate my life to art, which is what I am trying to pursue at the moment. Mercedes was the woman who opened my eyes into new paths in life like art.

I had always thought art was not a suitable career, but, after meeting her, I decided it was what I wanted to do. I have been studying now for two years in New York, earned my Associated Degree in Visual Arts at West Chester Community College, New York, participated by exposing my work at an art show at a Gallery, and am currently pursuing my Bachelor in Fine Arts degree at Hunter College.

When I started classes with Mercedes, I did not know a thing about art, I was completely new at the subject, but it immediately caught my attention. I started painting abstract compositions with vibrant colours, which I still like, and ended up by painting a landscape consisting of the same on a tree with storm clouds in the background.

My interest in painting drove me to ask Mercedes about her hand drawings and paintings, so she decided to teach me how to draw hands. Hands are, still, the thing I like to draw and paint the most, and which I have used for many of my art projects at college. My current professors have praised my technique and precision when drawing hands, which I have to thank Mercedes for.

She taught me how to do straight lines, how to mix colours, and how to organise a composition within a canvas. Overall, I think she was a great inspiration for my career and to get where I am now. Her method of teaching, her patience, and her knowledge of artistic techniques made my choice in life clear and easier.

I will be happy to be contacted by email for any questions about Mercedes. My email address is: merybernaldiaz@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Maria.

REGINA SAINZ
regina.spa@hotmail.com

I started taking lessons with Mercedes when at primary school. I thought it would be just another activity such as playing tennis or learning to play an instrument, but I was so wrong!

The first lessons we had to practise making lines and shapes with different colours to really understand colour. With this important knowledge we were able to paint whatever we wanted.

Now I am 17 years old and all I know about painting is thanks to Mercedes. At the lessons we were listening to music and she always spoke in English which was really helpful to improve our language skill. I also remember having breaks and eating some chocolate and biscuits. It was wonderful.

Sometimes I worried because a picture was too difficult for me but she was always there smiling at me and helping me to be a bit more patient, explaining

Whenever I couldn’t understand something about what I was learning about art at school, she solved my doubts.

Without a doubt, Mercedes is much more than just a teacher. She’s someone you can rely on, has a very positive happy personality which is hard to find, and obviously she paints amazingly.

I feel it is time for others to have the opportunity of being taught by her and having an incredible experience.

ROSA AGUILAR
rosa-a-s@hotmail.com

I have been taking lessons with Mercedes from when I was six until  I was sixteen: ten years!  Going to her lessons wasn’t something you felt forced to do: it was a place where painting, music, English and the invaluable company of Mercedes made us learn.

Mercedes didn’t make us paint directly from a white canvas. She taught us little by little. First we started with simple exercises to take precision with the brush and understand how to mix the colours. Then we made monochrome stones with which we studied the volumes. Once these exercises were well done, we could start to copy paintings or create our own work. (With Mercedes I have done copies of paintings by Zurbarán, Cezanne and Magritte). We also made sketches of our hands – which was really difficult – but we had good results in a short period of time.

I remember that when we didn’t know how to do something, she solved it while she was explaining how to do it and then she erased it to make us start it again. it was very didactic and motivating.

Also it is important to emphasise the fact that the classes were in English. When it was time to speak it orally in other situations we had much more fluency than the rest of our classmates.

Without any doubt it was thanks to her that I decided to study the baccalaureate of arts and design and now I am studying Fine Arts in the University of Seville, a university with lots of prestige at European level for its academicism. My results since the first year have always been the best and in the second year I have been in the University as T. A. This year I am preparing my first collective exhibition with students of the University.

To sum up, if I just kept on talking of Mercedes as a teacher I wouldn’t be fair. She’s a great role model to follow in many ways; and it’s so clear that if I hadn’t met her I wouldn’t be the same person that I am – and I wouldn’t be where I am now.

ANGELIKA POPCEV
Angelika_popcev@hotmail.com

To whom it might concern.

My name is Angelika Popcev. I met Mercedes 13 years ago when I was searching for painting lessons for my son Fernando (6 years old at the time) and my friend Paloma recommended her to me as her daughters were her students.  I went to meet her in her lovely studio and Fernando started right away. Her classes were so much fun, her method of teaching with experience and wonderful technique would inspire every kid in learning in a joyful way. She taught painting lessons in English and always with beautiful background music.

Her classes were unique, the one thing I loved!

Mercedes transmitted with enthusiasm and demand her knowledge in a particular way to each student according to their level of learning in a happy, loving and mild atmosphere.

This was so much so that I begged her to have me stay as a spectator in her classes. I wanted to see my son painting and share that atmosphere for a few hours. She allowed me with the condition of passing unnoticed during the whole class and so I did. I just impregnated myself with the enthusiasm that flowed between her students and her.

I am a photographer and a breeder of pure Hispanic Arab horses and always felt I wanted to paint my horses. I was influenced so much by her painting classes that I asked her to teach me how to paint.

My dream came true!

I began to receive oil painting classes once a week in the morning while my children attended school. It was a time in my life that I lived with the emotion and happiness that bring learning. The mornings I was there made the time pass by in a way I never experienced before.  I forgot the world all morning enjoying and learning. I started to paint with coloured stripes, then flowers to mix and to blur the oil paint. Mercedes was very demanding and did not admit anything shoddy. She made you repeat the exercises until she was pleased with the results,  and you had to keep the brushes, the palette and all around you impeccable.

Once I learned the technique I was allowed to paint my horses using my photos as models starting from charcoal. Mercedes has made me happy. To know her, to learn from her about art and life, has been one of the things that inspire me to live.

I am infinitely grateful to her.

BEATRIZ POLO ALVAREZ
beatrizpoloalvez@hotmail.com

Mi hija Ana es una joven especial con Síndrome de down, actualmente tiene 24 años y ya hace 4 que dejó las clases de Pintura con Mercedes. El tiempo que estuvo con Mercedes fue muy feliz y aprendió mucho de ella. Ana tiene una sensibilidad especial con la pintura y Mercedes se dio cuenta desde el primer momento ,entre ellas hubo una especie de simbiosis que las dos supieron aprovechar. Ana creó unos cuadros maravillosos, muy alegres y con un colorido y elegancia que a todos les encantaban y en especial a Mercedes recuerdo que le encantaban los cuadros de flores. Y lo mejor de todo,el cariño que hay entre ellas. Muchos besitos Mercedes

ISABEL ALVAREZ CARMONA
isabela@arrakis.es
To whom may concern:

I have been a student of Mercedes Carbonell’s painting classes for a few years. So was my son when he was 15 years old.

She is a real teacher, the one with whom you are sure, from the first moment, that you are going to learn and to love painting and drawing.

She taught me with her easy and sophisticated technique how to draw flowers with thick lines, and then, to fill them with paint and colours – and I have used this technique since them in my paintings.

She is very professional and an artist in all her artistic manifestations, not only as a painter but as a teacher. She made me love painting and this is something that I am very grateful for, because somehow she introduced me to a hobby that occupies a relevant part of my life.

With my son she also worked very well and gave him an instrument and a skill (drawing) that he uses frequently in his daily life.
She is very responsible, professional, and she has got a very nice character and easily makes friends with the students.

I recommend her as the best art teacher you could find.

I am able to give personal recommendations by email Isabelac@arrakis.es

ROCIO RODRIGUEZ PASTORINO
roropas@andaluciajunta.es

A MI PROFESORA, MERCEDES CARBONELL

Buenos días Mercedes,

te escribo esta nota, para darte las gracias por esa semilla que supistes plantar en no sé que parte de nuestro cerebro. Semilla que aún sigue imparable, sin freno, creando y buscando eso que el autor de un cuadro nos cuenta y nos deja en herencia. Eso que tu nos hicistes descubrir con tus explicaciones y con tu pincel.

Gracias por despertar nuestros  instintos mas salvajes y comprometidos, por tus charlas, tus críticas, y en fín…. por tí misma.

Un abrazo,

Rocío Rodriguez Pastorino.

MARTA SAMPER RODERO
marta.samper@gmail.com

La que suscribe, Marta Samper Rodero con domicilio en Sevilla, España,

Expone,

Que ha asistido como alumna al taller de pintura de Dª Mercedes Carbonell Sánchez-Gijón, durante los años 2013 y 2014.

Por otro lado mi hija, Sofía Gómez Samper, también ha asistido a las clases para niños en los años 2012, 2013 y 2014, impartidas por la misma Dª Mercedes Carbonell Sánchez-Gijón.

Los logros obtenidos han sido excelentes, ambas hemos aprendido enormemente.  Son los logros  que resultan de una gran profesora, con enorme experiencia y una muy buena comunicadora.

Siempre se han desarrollado las clases dentro de un ambiente agradable y divertido, para los adultos.  Para los niños, además ha sido muy educativo, puesto que les aportaba también conocimientos de inglés y de relaciones sociales, aplicando métodos de inteligencia emocional.  Con ello lograba aumentar su autoestima y los sumergía en un ambiente de compañerismo, tolerancia y solidaridad con los mas desfavorecidos de la clase.

El método de las clases creaba un ambiente de superación y estímulo constante.

Mercedes Carbonell ha implementado técnicas novedosas, como la aplicación en el mismo lienzo de los colores que se imprimen en el propio cuadro.  Para ello dejaba una franja horizontal en la base del lienzo y en ella se pintaban líneas verticales (mas o menos gruesas) de cada uno de los colores aplicados en la obra.  Con ello se favorecía a los alumnos, en especial a los niños, a poder encontrar la semejanza de tonos y matices hallados inicialmente.

No me queda mas que agradecerle a Mercedes Carbonell por lo aprendido y disfrutado, tanto por mí como por mi hija Sofía.