How Artist Melissa Cole Brought Her Vision to Life on a Basketball Court

Some courts start with a work order. This one started with a competition, a design, and an artist who won the city over with her vision.

The basketball court at Rocky Hill Park in Liberty Lake, WA is now home to a full-court mural designed and painted by artist Melissa Cole (@melissacoleartist), selected through a juried public art process run by the City of Liberty Lake. DIY Court USA supplied the Laykold acrylic coatings used to bring her design to life, working alongside Melissa to match colors to her original vision.

Here's how the project came together, from selection to the final game lines.

A Competitive Selection Process

The Rocky Hill Park mural wasn't an open-ended commission. The City of Liberty Lake's Parks and Arts Commission partnered with Spokane Arts to run a formal request-for-qualifications process, inviting individual artists and artist teams to apply, with priority given to artists from the Inland Northwest region. Finalists were selected to develop full designs, each receiving a design stipend to do so.

Out of that finalist pool, the Commission named Melissa Cole as their first choice for the project.

About the Artist

Melissa Cole was born in Oregon and raised in London, Hong Kong, and India. She graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Zoology, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic working in reforestation and environmental education, and spent time as a naturalist guide in Mexico and the Caribbean. Those experiences shape much of the inspiration behind her vividly colored, heavily textured, and patterned work.

She has written more than 30 children's natural history books and has spent the last 18 years fully devoted to her art, drawing influence from folkloric designs and global patterns found in ceramics, batiks, sculptures, and mosaics from her travels. Her work often brings themes of science and the natural world into urban settings, and has been featured in national galleries, corporate and private collections, aquariums, hospitals, schools, and numerous public spaces.

The Rocky Hill Park mural adds a basketball court in Liberty Lake, WA to that growing list of public spaces carrying her work.

Designing a Mural for Rocky Hill Park

Melissa developed the mural's design herself, drawings, dimensions, and all, for the court's full 56.2-foot by 81.2-foot playing surface. Designing for a space this size means every proportion, color block, and line has to be planned around a court that still needs to function as a full-size basketball court once the paint is down.

The mural was painted in the summer of 2026, transforming the court from a standard surface into a genuine piece of public art.

Bringing the Design to Life with Laykold Acrylic Coatings

Once Melissa's design was finalized, DIY Court USA supplied the Laykold acrylic coatings used to paint it, and worked with her to match colors from Laykold's palette to her original artwork. The final palette pulled from eight Laykold Advantage Colorcoat shades, Scarlet, Teal, Midnight, Light Blue, Kiwi, Grass Green, Canary, and Pumpkin, alongside Laykold Textured White Line Paint for the finishing game lines. That range, spanning deep reds and blues to bright yellows and greens, gave Melissa the full spectrum she needed to bring her design to life exactly as she envisioned it.

From there, the execution was entirely hers.

Projects like this are a good example of what's possible when acrylic coatings get used for something beyond standard court markings. The same UV-stabilized, durable coating system used on professional athletic courts can just as easily carry a full-scale custom design, without sacrificing the performance a playing surface needs.

From Mural to Playable Court: Adding the Game Lines

A mural alone doesn't make a court playable. Once Melissa's design was complete, the final step was adding the game lines on top, the boundaries, key, and markings players need for an actual game. Only once those lines were in place was the court at Rocky Hill Park officially finished and open for play.

It's a detail that's easy to overlook, but it's what turns a painted surface into a functioning basketball court. For more on how multiple layouts and lines come together on a single surface, see our guide on how to paint lines on a multi-sport court.

Why Acrylic Coatings Work So Well for Custom Court Art

Acrylic surfacing systems aren't just a practical choice for standard courts, they're also a strong foundation for custom design work, offering:

• A wide, vibrant color range for detailed, multi-color designs

• UV-stabilized coatings that resist fading from sun exposure over time

• A durable finish built to withstand regular foot traffic and gameplay

• A surface that supports both artistic detail and functional game lines

That combination is what makes a project like Rocky Hill Park possible, a mural that looks as good as it plays.

What This Means for Other Public Spaces & Custom Projects

Rocky Hill Park is a strong example of what municipalities, parks departments, schools, and organizations can do with a court beyond standard colors and lines. Whether it's a juried public art process like this one or a smaller custom design project, acrylic coatings offer the flexibility to bring an artist's vision to a full-size playing surface.

Final Thoughts

The court at Rocky Hill Park is proof that a basketball court can be both a piece of public art and a fully functional playing surface.

All credit for the design and execution of this mural goes to artist Melissa Cole and the City of Liberty Lake, who brought this project to life through a genuinely collaborative public art process. DIY Court USA was proud to supply the Laykold acrylic coatings that helped make it possible.

If you're a municipality, organization, or artist considering a custom court design, DIY Court USA supplies the Laykold acrylic coating systems to help bring a vision like this to your own court.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can any basketball court support a custom mural design? Most asphalt or concrete courts finished with an acrylic coating system can support a custom design, as long as the base is properly prepared and the design accounts for any required game lines.

How are paint colors matched to an artist's original design? Colors are matched from the acrylic coating manufacturer's available palette, in this case Laykold's color range, to align as closely as possible with the artist's original artwork.

Does a custom mural design affect a court's durability or playability? No. Acrylic coatings used for custom designs are the same UV-stabilized, durable systems used on standard athletic courts, so a mural doesn't compromise how the court performs.

Can homeowners do custom court designs too, or is this only for municipalities? Custom color combinations and designs aren't limited to public art projects. Homeowners can also work with acrylic coatings to add custom colors or design elements to a backyard court.