Eileen Bell was born in Bristol and initially studied piano as her parents were against her becoming an artist. Following her marriage she attended St John’s Wood School of Art from 1939 and later in 1945 the Anglo-French Centre where her teachers included Oskar Kokoschka and Jean Lurcat.
She combined painting with work for the Council of Industrial Design on textiles and as an exhibition designer. She joined the Artists’ International Association in 1939 and exhibited at the Young Contemporaries and the prestigious Leicester Galleries.
She moved to Suffolk in the early 1970s and her vigorous expressionist style captured Suffolk village life.