In 1962, Carmen returned with her family to Barcelona, Spain where they would live until 1974. From the age of five, Carmen would spend her days drawing and painting, always earning her best scholastic marks in Art, Sculpture and Sports. She has also worked in pottery since age 8. In 1972, Carmen and her family relocated to a small town on the coast of Barcelona province named Cabrera de Mar.

Carmen rented a space in a large old attic on Barcelona’s Diputación Street in 1984, which she converted to a work studio and living space.

She spent time in 1985 as a drawing instructor at an art academy located on Via Augusta Street. This same year, she was selected as one of the two students from each Spanish University to receive the Beca de Pintura de Paisaje de Segovia (Landscape painting of Segovia scholarship), and she attended the University of Barcelona. Upon completion of the program, an exhibition was held to show the work produced by the scholarship winners. Carmen was awarded the Gold Medal and decided to travel with the money earned from her award.

In September of 1985, Carmen traveled to Rome where she spent a month painting and then on to Florence where she would spend another month painting and familiarizing herself with the Italian Renaissance. In November, she continued onwards to India, a country and culture that had attracted her since her childhood. There Carmen spent two months travelling and painting her impressions of the country. She was deeply impressed by the mysticism of the people and by the colors, smells and light of India.

Carmen returned to Spain in 1986, where she taught drawing and painting in her studio on Diputación Street in Barcelona. She continued to teach classes later at the art academy on Aragón de Barcelona Street and at the Academia Bonaplata, and finally from 1988-1991 taught at her own academy, situation on Giralt el Pellicer Street, near the cathedral and in the middle of the Gothic neighborhood in Barcelona.

Using Istanbul as her starting point, Carmen traveled throughout Turkey in 1990, painting as she went. She was most impressed by the small villages in the interior of the country and Capadocia. The following year she made her first trip to Morocco to spend two weeks painting in the desert and a few days in Marrakech.

In October of 1993, she made her second trip to Morocco, this time beginning in Barcelona and travelling by car. Once in Morocco, Carmen spent one month painting in the south of the country, a trip she would repeat again in 1999. In addition, Carmen directed a painting seminar in Menorca all during the summers of 1993 through 1996.