Born in Los Angeles, California, Elena Willets showed an interest in art from an early age. She was encouraged in her pursuit of an art career by her father, noted California artist and portrait photographer W.S. Burnham. She took her art training at California State University at Northridge with additional study at Art Center College of Design. She spent fifteen years in the commercial art field, and then moved to Estes Park, Colorado in 1983. At that time she began to follow a full-time fine art painting career, experimenting with media before deciding to concentrate fully on oil painting. She began private study with various artists in 1985, eventually focusing on plein air painting by 1990. She was one of the founders of Plein Air Painters of Estes Park, a group which continues to paint outdoors on a weekly basis.

Ms. Willets has been a winter resident of Arizona since 2003, and became an Associate Member of the Tucson Plein Air Painters in that year. She also does portraiture and other studio work, but continues to find inspiration out-of-doors, trying to capture the effects of light on the landscape. She enjoys travel and frequently paints in various other parts of the United States and Europe.