Russell R. Waterhouse was born in El Paso, Texas in 1928. His boyhood years were spent on cattle ranches of the area and in 1950; he graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. degree in Agriculture. He served as an officer with the 2nd Armored Division in Germany and upon returning entered the Art Center College of Design until 1956.

He then became art director and later, advertising director for corporations in El Paso. Mr. Waterhouse has illustrated several books for Alfred A. Knopf and Mr. Carl Hertzog, book designer and typographer. He was honored with a one-man watercolor show at the El Paso Museum of Art, and in 1970 was appointed by the Governor of Texas to the Texas Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He is listed in Who’s Who in American Art 1973. In 1980 and 1983 he worked on commission in Africa for private interests doing wildlife and landscape subjects.

He has shown his paintings at the El Paso Museum of Art-Texas A&M University-Texas Tech University-University of Texas at El Paso-Game Conversation International in San Antonio, Texas. The Dallas Safari Club and was named to the El Paso artists Hall of Fame in 1999. His knowledge of the southwest has enabled him to impart a sense of truth and mood to his work that has created a demand for his paintings among private collectors and galleries.

Russell Waterhouse passed away peacefully in El Paso, Texas on October 13, 2019.