This paper investigates how a “printerly painting” approach can be used to analyze the mind’s ability to adapt and perceive change.  A printerly painting is a name given to an art form that encompasses a painting completed on carved wood, with silkscreened images on the surface.  Mark making, drawing, painting and doodling are examined for a hierarchy that seems to shift within the context of fine art and the importance of accessing the unconscious mind of the artist.  It is an exploration of transcribing brushmarks, made with a human desire to record individuality and to connect with the community, into carved lines.  The depth of the two surfaces, carved and not carved, combine through the use of color transitions to push background to foreground, foreground to background.  The silkscreened marks are an illusion, extra information, that adds to this spatial depth.  Through the process of carving, one can examine how we choose to see life through the notion of carving with or against the grain.  Our desire to choose a lifestyle of positivity and instability conflict with current emotions of confusion, and anxiety, and are explained through paradoxical relationships and color.  This paper is personal, while describing a confrontation of norms and past beliefs, an exploration of transition, and a consideration of how change can be seen as a positive entity within my life.  The artist’s presentation speech is included in the appendix for further elaboration and the reader’s pleasure.