No one ever thought you'd have to cross a stream to make it through Fitzroy Street but that's the proposition during Tamworth Country Music Festival.
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Artist Rudy Kistler has created an anamorphic piece which depicts a three dimensional stream with stepping stones, viewed best through a camera lens.
It not only creates a great photo opportunity but festival patrons can also capture videos of people jumping from rock to rock.
"Every year, everything's evolving and when we first started doing these [3D paintings] 10-15 years ago, it was all about the photo but now people want to shoot interactive videos," Kistler said.
"So the idea with the stepping stones in the river is you'll be able to start [at the top], someone will be able to stand on a stone and as they're jumping you'll be able to back up and shoot a video of them jumping down the river going from stepping stone to stepping stone.
"I'm always trying to think how can I step it up to the next level."
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Kistler started his piece at 7am on the first day of the festival, where it quickly took shape before he added to it over the coming days.
It quickly became a talking point for festivalgoers with many keen to quiz Kistler on his artwork.
And he was more than happy to oblige.
"The best part about it is I'm out of the studio and in public and people are stoked to see it," Kistler said.
"Kids are jumping on it and everybody is excited from old grannies to little kids, it's just the best thing in the world."
The Australian-based, American-born artist has been doing 3D pieces for 12 years and fell into it after a bit of bad luck.
"I did my master's degree in oil painting at the National Art School in Sydney and showed my landscapes for a while but after the GFC [global financial crisis] in 2008, it all sort of shut down and that's when the street art thing started booming," he said.
"People asked if I could do this and it's really not that different even though it looks like it is. It's the same skill base and you just learn how to do it."
It's the artist's third time to the festival and comes after a five-year hiatus.
He was last here in 2015 where he created a range of pieces throughout Tamworth.
Like he did in 2015, Kistler's pieces appeared very quickly and were large in scale.
It's something the artist is known for.
"I'll often tell people I'm not the best painter in Australia, I'm not the most realistic but I'm one of the biggest and fastest. This is 15 metres long and three metres wide whacked it out in 4-5 hours," he said."
You can check out more of Mr Kistler's work at his website rudykistler.com.
