Street Art Murals Australia mural transforms Wentworth Falls water tower

"It’s the largest mural we’ve done,” Mr Nagy said of their stunning water tank lyrebird which looks down onto the thousands of daily commuters on the Great Western Highway. “My goal for 2016 was to do a three-storey work and I've already ticked that off.”

"People have been beeping [their car horns] all day - it’s been great,” added Mr Birkner last week when the work was close to completion.

“It was a way to monumentalise local flora and fauna but put our own artistic spin on it.”

The water tank is one of a group of four artworks by the pair that have been commissioned by Sydney Water and Blue Mountains Council for 2016. They finished this one on John Street last Wednesday after three big days in 30 degree heat up a 12 metre crane - sanding and spraying and using 50 spray cans and 40 litres of paint. An azure kingfisher now stands on a Sydney Water garage door on Kalinda Road in Bullaburra; a large heron was recently painted (with the help of other artists) at the Lapstone water tank on Lapstone Road, near the Great Western Highway, and the community will be consulted about the final artwork in the centre of Mt Riverview shops.

Mr Nagy, 23, and Mr Birkner, 24, knew each other as young boys in Springwood and reconnected three years ago through street art.

Both have been full-time artists since the opening of the Street Art Walk in Katoomba last year during the Winter Magic Festival. Mr Birkner, a National Art School graduate, decided after that to give up life as a barista and Mr Nagy, who studied art at TAFE, left his job as a mining excavator.

The work was all completed without the use of a projector.

“Because we’ve been trained at school, we can draw from eye and calculate using the space in front of you,” Mr Birkner said.

Street Art Murals Australia’s outgoing co-ordinator Giles Fryer said: “I really hope people enjoy it for a long time to come.”