In this paper, we discuss the principle of the clumsy painter method proposed for extracting interested regions from image signals automatically. We theoretically clarify the reason why the clumsy painter method is effective so well. We compare its algorithm with the opening operation in mathematical morphology, and prove that the clumsy painter method has the advantage over the opening operation in mathematical morphology on removing uninterested regions from image signals. Simulating these two methods on two simple geometrical models, we show that the extracted redults by the opening operation are included in those by the clumsy painter method.