Melissa Gordon loves deadlines and pressure. So when she was given just under two months to complete a 15 foot by 120 foot mural on the side of a building, she made her deadline, with time to spare. She says the hardest part was coming up with an idea.

“Andrea Birst contacted me last spring about painting a mural on the side of her salon. She wanted something that would tie in with the salon, feature women, but not be ‘in your face.’ She wanted something beautiful,” recalls Melissa.

Melissa decided to paint goddesses of love and beauty from different cultures.

“I used to paint billboards and I’ve done different murals around town, but this was much bigger,” says Melissa. “I love working outside on projects like this. People stop to chat and want to ask questions. Everyone has a different perspective of what the image means to them. Typically, artists work alone but I really enjoy being outside and visiting with people while I work.”

You can see Melissa’s work on the north side of Glance Spa and Salon at 407 North 4th Street in Bismarck. She’s also painted murals at at Grand Junction Subs, Papa’s Pumpkin Patch, Zion Lutheran Church, and in Art Alley in downtown Bismarck. She’s currently working on smaller canvases, preparing for a gallery show. But she’s hoping to do more murals.

“There are a lot of blank canvases in Bismarck.”