The brief was to render one of Pattachitra's most ingenious set-pieces honestly: the Kandarpa-hathi, an elephant whose whole body is built from intertwined women, ridden by Kama, the love-god, with his flower-bow. The whole pleasure of the motif is the double-read, so we kept the elephant's silhouette clean and bold against the geru ground while filling trunk, ears, legs and tail with maidens in haritala, hingula and conch-white, each pose locking into the next. We set the crowned bow-bearing rider on top and balanced the field with a flowering branch and lotuses, refusing extra clutter so the visual trick stays the star. It is virtuoso line-work in the service of a single witty idea — the love-god's mount, drawn as desire itself.