the setting that is causing this may be 'preserve transparency' on the layers palette - or maybe one of the layer blending settings


if not:

Quote Originally Posted by TimesNewRoman View Post
Is there a way to reset all of the settings to factory default?
holding the shift key down as you start program will give you this option [on windows for sure - I think on mac too]

but you may prefer to try the menu option in painter to reset workspace to default first, rather than go straight to factory default

welcome to TG