Developing design ideas

This is a sketch of a twig and its shadow. My interest in line draws me so often to branches. I traced the negative shapes that I saw between the twig and its shadow and this drawing looked more like a long three dimensional object, a shell perhaps. I traced this shape several times, used water soluble crayons around the outlines and then ripped these shapes while still wet. You can see in the second image that I layered these repeat images to create a sweeping tassel-like picture. I prefer my next attempt which involved using the coloured edges left behind on the paper after I ripped out the wet shaapes. I layered and collaged these and used a black crayon to highlight some of the shapes. I like the way that the lines and shapes from my original sketch are still alive in this but also transformed into something softer. I think the colours work better. Altering the proportion of colour and white and neutral paper creates a more muted effect.