Austen studied oil and watercolour painting at the London School of Arts & Crafts under the wild animal painter Cuthbert Edmund Swan, as well as at visits to London Zoo. She was a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society from 1903. Austen had first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1899. In 1902 she was elected to the Society of Women Artists and in 1907 to the R.E., only having taken up etching in 1906. Following her move to Suffolk she was a member of the Ipswich Society of Artists from 1924 to 1964. A much praised artist, particularly for her etchings, Austen exhibited widely.