I am an engineer and as most other engineers have a concrete idea of what "method" means; in any case, it is about much more than just painting something. However, I agree with you - if I interpret you correctly - that often the method how the result is developed is confused with a way of presenting the result. Since Merriam Webster indeed offers "a way of or for doing something" as a synonym for "a systematic procedure [...] employed by or proper to a particular discipline" I changed my statement a bit to avoid this (weak) ambiguity.