About the Artist

Emilie Astell was an artist working in oils. She had also worked in pastels, acrylics and watercolors. She concentrated on plein air paintings as well as working in her studio.

Her work had been accepted into a number of juried exhibits including the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, Connecticut Pastel Society, Concord Art Association, and the Fitchburg Art Museum.

She had exhibited with the Worcester County Plein Air group at Assumption College, the Gardner Area League of Artists, and the Orr’s Island Artists group at various locations. Her paintings are in private collections and at the Ashland Public Library.

Astell attended the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I., where she was awarded a certificate in drawing and painting. She also studied at the deCordova Museum and with artists David Lussier, Richard McKinley, Jeanne Rosier Smith, and Stan Sperlak.

Prior to her painting career, Astell was a journalist with several daily newspapers including those in Worcester, MA, Bloomington, IL, and Madisonville, KY.

Astell had a bachelor’s degree in political science and journalism. She was a native of New Jersey. For a number of years, she lived in the Midwest before relocating to Holden, MA, with her husband, John. After a long illness, she died in July 2019.

Artist’s Statement

Communication has been my lifelong passion from my earlier career in journalism to fine arts and painting. My goal is to engage viewers in the journey of discovery as they relate to shape, color and light in landscape and still life paintings.

For me, painting is the way I express how I feel about the world around me.

On sunny days outdoors or in the studio, ever changing light and shadow patterns cause me to reflect on the transience of appearances. Even on cloudy, windy days outdoors, I find the challenge of capturing the turbulence exhilarating.

My artistic adventure began in childhood when my sister showed me how to apply oil paint to her previously painted, but rejected, landscapes. Using one of her slightly worn brushes, I often turned her work upside down in order to begin my own drawing and subsequent painting. While I did not abandon painting altogether as I grew up, the need for a college education and a career took center stage. Still, on occasion, I returned to my artistic bent using various mediums to convey my feelings about a given subject.

After more than three decades meeting deadlines and responding to breaking news, I decided to return to my artistic roots. First, I sought technical knowledge as a way to eventually place more emphasis on the emotional side of art. This decision serves me well in the second leg of my journey as I continue to find inspiration in observing everyday objects and translating them into paintings.

While painting is a great joy, I also experience an almost childlike delight in roaming New England while looking for places to set up my easel and record what I see as well as what I feel about the scene. From observing to sketching and finally to painting, I travel through many phases of emotional connectedness to my work, culminating in a feeling of accomplishment at the end of a day.

Exhibits and Awards

Juried Exhibits

2016

• Paint the Town, The Prints and the Potter Gallery
• Members' Show, Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society

2015

• Members' Show, Concord Art Association

2014

• Blackstone Valley Plein Air Arts Festival
• Paint the Town, The Prints and the Potter Gallery
• For Pastels Only, Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod
• Members' Show, Concord Art Association

2013

• Renaissance in Pastels, Connecticut Pastel Society
• For Pastels Only, Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod
• Purely Pastel, Connecticut Pastel Society
• Members' Show, Concord Art Association

2012

• Frances N. Roddy Open Competition, Concord Art Association
• All New England Show, Cape Cod Art Association
• For Pastels Only, Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod
• All Cape Cod Show, Cape Cod Art Association
• Breath of Spring Show, Cape Cod Art Association

2011

• Frances N. Roddy Open Competition, Concord Art Association
• For Pastels Only, Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod
• Members' Show, Concord Art Association
• All Cape Cod Show, Cape Cod Art Association
• Regional Competition, Fitchburg Art Museum

2010

• All New England Show, Cape Cod Art Association

Other Selected Exhibits

• Orr’s Island Artists Shows, with a group of fellow artists who annually travel to Orr’s Island, ME, to paint en plein air.
• Worcester County Plein Air, Assumption College
• Princeton Art Society
• Gardner Area League of Artists
• Ashland Public Library Show, where “Strawberries,” was chosen by trustees to be included in the library’s permanent collection.

Awards

2012

• 1st Prize, Pastels, Breath of Spring Show, Cape Cod Art Association
• 2nd Prize, Pastels, All New England Show, Cape Cod Art Association

2010

• The Eleanor Ferri Jones Award, All New England Show, Cape Cod Art Association

Her work is also in private collections.