Question about subtractive color mixing I've been reading about subtractive and additive color mixing and one thing is still confusing me. When I mix red paint, which reflects red light and absorbs all other light, with white paint, I get pink. 

From what I read it almost seems like mixing white paint with red paint should result in red paint. Here's what I'm thinking: When two subtractive colors mix, their properties for what colors they absorb mix.  White paint absorbs no light and reflects everything. Red paint absorbs everything other than red. When you add these hue's properties together for light absorption and reflection, you're left with the properties of red, essentially the lowest common denominator of sorts.

Where am I going wrong?
The pink color of the mixed red and white is an optical illusion, similar to how inkjet printers create all the colors from inks of three primary colors by printing combinations of tiny colored dots close together.  

The color in paint is particles of finely-ground pigments (colored powder), suspended in a liquid that dries into a film.  When you mix red and white paint, you get a suspension of red particles and white particles.  There is a mix of those particles on the surface of the paint.  

The red particles reflect just the red light.  The white particles reflect all the colors.  The individual particles are too small to differentiate with the naked eye.  What you see is a blend of the light reflected by the different particles on the surface.