Ellie Vega

Ellie was born in Fairfax Virginia in 1967 into a foreign service family and moved every 2 to 3 years over
4 continents. She was raised in the U.S.A, Mexico twice, France, Lybia, Morrocco and the Dominican
Republic and speaks Spanish and French. Uprooting every few years was exciting but difficult. Art
became a refuge and even a language. After graduating from high school in Mexico City D.F. her father
was stationed in Santo Domingo, D.R. Ellie received her associate degree in fine arts and Illustration
from Altos de Chavon, School of Design and from there moved to New York. She received her Bachelor
of Arts with a concentration of Art in Cultures and for a time was a program officer at the Office of
Foreign Missions to the U.N, and then spent several years working in the Interior design industry,
painting murals.

In 1997 Ellie moved from New York to Oklahoma and worked in human resources for about 10 years as a
bilingual translator before pursuing a teaching certification. Certified to teach Spanish, English as a
Second Language and Art, Ellie has been teaching Illustration and Painting for the last 11 years at
Tahlequah High School. In May and f 2023, Ellie earned a master’s degree from the University of
Oklahoma in Art and Technology.

In 2020 she happened upon The Realistic Acrylic Portrait school and was mesmerized by the application
of acrylic paint to the old masters painting methods and began to learn from Matt Philleo. She enjoys
capturing expressions and emotions in her paintings. This method of painting leads to success and Ellie
shares it regularly with her high school students.

She currently lives a country life in a homemade house with her husband Martin, and two high school
age kids. They are all also artists, so no one is ever bored.

Contact Ellie  Facebook