Laura Ball's narrative watercolors and oil paintings depict journeys, trials, and transformations that resemble contemporary fairy tales. Modern-day struggles of the subconscious unfold into playful conflict among surreal and dreamlike landscapes. The myth of the hero, or heroine, is a universal one. Ball's work addresses this through the depiction of the heroine's "call to adventure," and the inevitable struggle and eventual transformation that follow this calling. Using Joseph Campbell's "A Hero with a Thousand Faces" as a roadmap for the obstacles her heroines confront, Ball uses vibrant colors and exotic animals to create a fantastical world where one must undertake a journey. Themes of gender politics, the environment, and violence emerge from within her fantastical narratives, which are fraught with peril in order to gain a great prize or personal truth.