It takes time for a masterpiece to come together.

One need look no further than the tunnel under Route 248, where it was out with the graffiti, and in with the beauty.

Bowmanstown Area Residents Connected hung the first installment of a mural in the tunnel on Wednesday.

Led by artist Carrie Kingsbury, the entire mural was hung Wednesday night. Thursday, Kingsbury went to graffiti coat it.

Kingsbury has been a full-time mural painter since 1999, when she started Promiseland Murals. She has many large commercial, community and residential projects in her portfolio such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Julius Silvert’s and Davita’s corporate headquarters, several restaurants, and multiple historical murals in Berwyn, Malvern and Hamburg.

Kingsbury also has volunteered teaching art for a scouting program for girls since 1994.

The hanging of the mural came on the heels of a community paint day that was held Tuesday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bowmanstown.

Kingsbury painted the mural on parachute material in her studio and brought it to the borough.

The scene is a compilation of local flora and fauna, including endangered species, and is being done in collaboration with the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s projected mural to create a continuity of art connected by the D&L National Heritage Corridor Trail.

The rare/threatened/endangered species include a bleeding heart (plant); sandwort (plant); spotted turtle; and the Milbert’s tortoiseshell (butterfly). All of these are listed on the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s property.

Developed through the partnership of the Bowmanstown Area Residents Connected and the D&L National Heritage Corridor, the project has been funded through the combined grants from the Pocono Forests & Waters Conservation Landscape, through the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Scott said the project is important not only for the borough, but Carbon County as well.

“It’s about pride in the community; making this a great place to live,” Scott said. “It looks really awesome.”

Scott said that Rodney Reeser, vice president of BARC, has been painting over graffiti for years, and played an instrumental role in seeing this project come to fruition.

Ben Price, a volunteer with BARC, said the mural will be viewed by the many people who come in off the trail and cross through the tunnel into the borough.

Scott said BARC continues to raise funds for the completion of the project, which will require two more panels costing $4,000 each.

“We’re continuing to fundraise to finish the project,” she said. “Any donations would be appreciated.”

For more information, contact Scott at karascott2014@gmail.com, 610-703-0029 or visit BARC’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/gobarc.