Warrnambool's Jimmi Buscombe has been hard at work transforming the Lismore water tower into a piece of art.
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The talented local artist was hired for the high-risk project, which requires a harness and licence, by the Corangamite Shire.
Throughout February, Lismore residents and those passing through will have seen two giant dancing brolgas, one 12 metres tall, and three sheep appear on the water tower, located on the Warrnambool side of the Hamilton Highway at the Lismore Golf Course.
Once a blank canvas, the water tower was sandblasted and sealed before Mr Buscombe got stuck into the project, which lasted about three weeks.
"Being my first tower and first project of this scale, it's been an absolute stab in the dark so I'm pretty happy with the way it has progressed," Mr Buscombe said.
The artist, who is nationally recognised for Warrnambool's 'Gutsy' the wombat, has spent 16 nine-hour days on the water tower, with some breaks in between due to inclement weather.
He said the biggest challenge was working out how to use a two-kilogram paint gun.
"I'm using a Wagner spray gun which is like one you'd use on a house. It weighs two kilograms and holds a litre of paint," he said.
"I didn't have much practice so I just went in with all guns blazing."
Mr Buscombe said he had sought a lot of advice from Woolongong artist Claire Foxton who painted the Warrnambool West water tower.
"I've probably messaged her about 20 times over the past month. She has been unbelievably helpful," he said.
"I've sought advice about everything really. What to use, what spray gun to pay, what setting to use it on.
"She also advised me not to start with a tight plan, but a general plan, and to be willing to change things on the way. She's offered little practical things which have been great."
Another challenge was Mr Buscombe overcoming his fear of heights.
"For 47 years I've been absolutely petrified of heights and then suddenly I had to be 15 metres in the air," he said.
"The first time I went up, I had the shakes for about an hour. Then for the next two days I had varying degrees of adrenaline going the whole time but by the third day I didn't even think about it.
"Now I just go up for a look around because there's such a beautiful view from up there."
Mr Buscombe said he had received a lot of visitors at the water tower, including a German backpacker.
"The little cafe at the golf course was a little quiet, country cafe during the first few days and now there's 15 cars in the car park. It's chockers, it's just fantastic, it's exactly what you would hope - that this would drag people to the town," he said.
"Everyone who visited has said the photos just don't do it justice. It really is the sort of thing people have to see in real life."
Mr Buscombe said while the water tower project was "finished for all intents and purposes", the community could expect a little addition in the coming weeks.
He said further artwork would be painted on the tower and captured on stop motion animation, which would become part of an augmented reality video through the Eyejack phone application.
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