A chameleon balances carefully on a branch , waiting calmly for its prey ... except that if you look closely , you will see that this picture is not all that it seems . For the 'creature ' poised to pounce is not a colourful species of lizard but something altogether more human . Featuring two carefully painted female models , it is a clever piece of sculpture designed to create an amazing illusion . It is the work of Italian artist Johannes Stoetter . Scroll down for video . Can you see us ? Italian artist Johannes Stoetter has painted two naked women to look like a chameleon . The 37-year-old has previously transformed his models into frogs and parrots but this may be his most intricate and impressive piece to date . Stoetter daubed water-based body paint on the naked models to create the multicoloured effect , then intertwined them to form the shape of a chameleon . To complete the deception , the models rested on a bench painted to match their skin and held the green branch in the air beneath them . Stoetter can take weeks to plan one of his pieces and hours to paint it . Speaking about The Chameleon , he said : ' I worked about four days to design the motif bigger and paint it with colours . 'The body painting took me about six hours with the help of an assistant . ' I covered the hair with natural clay to make the heads look bald . Camouflage job : A few finishing touches are applied to the two naked models to complete the transformation . 'There are different difficulties on different levels as in every work , but I think that my passion and love to my work is so big , that I figure out a way to deal with difficulties . 'My main inspirations are nature , my personal life-philosophy , every-day-life and people themselves . However , the finished result existed only briefly before the models were able to get up and wash the paint off – with just a video and some photographs to record it . The artist added : ' I think that body painting is a good way to learn to let something go , to separate from something . That happens again and again in life and it is good to be able to handle with it . 'Also the fast end of the artwork makes us perceive it in a much more intensive way . ' But there is one way in which the chameleon can still claim to be the unchallenged master of disguise . Unlike the real thing , Stoetter 's models ca n't change their colour – unless he gets his paintbrush out .
Johannes Stoetter 's artwork features two carefully painted female models . The 37-year-old has previously transformed models into frogs and parrots . Daubed water-based body paint on naked models to create the effect . Completing the deception , models rested on bench painted to match skin .