Michelle Waters was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, into an artistic, progressive family. Her grandparents were social justice activists and artists who greatly influenced her art and life. She has been making art since she was a small child, and holds a B.A. in Studio Art from University of California, Santa Cruz.

Her art expresses concern for the loss of the natural world and human exploitation of animals, and is influenced by her environmental and animal activism and volunteer work in wildlife rehabilitation and cat rescue. She donates a percentage of proceeds from wildlife art sales to Save L.A. Cougars (National Wildlife Federation) and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Michelle is represented by Cactus Gallery in Los Angeles, and has recently shown at Studio Gallery in San Francisco, TAG Gallery in Los Angeles, Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station, California, and Gristle Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. She is also a member of Hinge Artist Collective and the Art of Compassion Project, both international artist collectives, and Women’s Eco-Art Dialog (WEAD). 

She lives and paints in the redwood forest in Northern California with her husband and rescued cats, and their neighbors the deer, owls, coyotes, bobcats, squirrels, woodpeckers, hawks, jays, lizards, frogs, opossums, skunks, raccoons, foxes, mountain lions and other creatures.