Painting? As in Acrylic Paint and/or Water Color? The description of what you do to painting, what do you mean by messy? I find painting to be more tedious, and a simple mess can ruin the whole painting (At least in Acrylic). I haven't touched my brushes for a long while, I guess from not having a mood for it, thou I have fun playing around doing different textures and effects with the paint and anything I can think of, whether it's throwing Alcohol, slapping with a towel or even using my hands as brushes and blenders for it.
I've been working with tube watercolor paints mostly, but I sometimes use acrylics. I intend to pick up some oil paints eventually, too! :-)
Tube watercolors are my favorite to use. They blend much better than acrylics, and also don't go to waste because you can revive them with a little water if they go dry. They are especially good for making those neat effects, too!
What I meant by messy was mostly the long clean up process and, as you said, the fact that it's so easy to ruin an entire painting.
There are ways to get around that, such as the use of masking tape or masking fluid (which I just picked up today!). With watercolors, it's especially easy to mess up because the colors overlap each other.
You can use water and dabbing to try to lighten them, but it's really hard to completely remove an unwanted watercolor mark. ;___; Acrylics are easier to cover up (since the paints are very thick) and they are great for making the right colors, but terrible for blending.
Aside from painting, I also really like working with pastels, but I can't actually touch any of my pastel pictures because it will all rub off. I have a pastel work that I really want to frame, but I have no idea how to get it covered in something that will prevent them from spreading. o.o
Art is awesome! ;___; It's always neat to see how other people use different mediums!