Elephant expressionists Just as with human artists, each elephant has his own distinctive style with an emotional quality as well. For instance, Nom Chak, a young male will paint only if he can use a house brush and doesn't stop until the whole canvas is covered. Pratida, whose name means "princess", makes diagonal lines with slow, deliberate strokes and never paints in the top two corners. Khang always uses vertical strokes and prefers reds, blues and greens with a touch of silver or gold. Some elephants paint with slow, deliberate concentration while Arum, a 29-year-old elephant in Indonesia, paints so vigorously that he sometimes upsets his easel. It has been noted that elephants with pasts of abuse sometimes express themselves in a more boisterous manner, perhaps releasing hostility. Sometimes colors in elephant art seem to reflect the elephant's surroundings such as grass or a trainer's clothing.