[4] She studied at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales, where she was taught by Frank P. Mahony.

She also travel to Paris where she studied at the Académie Colarossi for around 16 months between 1899 and 1900,[1] sharing a studio flat with Bertha Merfield.

She won first prize for her miniatures at the Women's Work Exhibition at Melbourne in 1907.

In 1910 Edwell was involved in the creation of the New South Wales Society of Women Painters.

[1] In 1919 Edwell was a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society.