Messy? painting

This past week I painted the iron posts on the front porch, porch to ceiling.  They have this leafy design in them, and it was sort of time consuming, first priming and then painting.  I thought about spray painting, but opted for the brush.  Whenever I paint I make every effort not to make any mess, laying large plastic to protect other surfaces from getting unwanted paint on it.  But it never fails, I end up with splashes or specks of paint here and there anyway.  It made me think of Daddy.  How did he do it?  He painted for us before, and other than having paint all over himself, he never had paint where it didn't belong.  And I never saw specks of unwanted paint at their house after he did their housepainting, either.  But overall, I'm satisfied with the result.