Russell was born and brought up in London. After finishing school and art college he worked in the advertising and marketing industry notably at Vogue Magazine and Harpers Bazaar Magazine. Following 15 successful, formative years he emigrated to Australia. After many years working in the Australian advertising and marketing industry, which involved a good deal of travel throughout Asia, Europe and beyond, he decided that it was time for a change. Russell had promised himself for a long time that, "Next year I am going to start painting," in 2015 he finally took the plunge. Russell usually works with acrylic paints and other additional mediums such as gel and plaster.  Mostly he uses palette knives.