Throwing in a curve

 I decided on the vertical composition for my piece, using the rough sketch below as a guideline for the placement of my trees and where the creek will meander.

For many of my quilts in recent years, I have been drafting my patterns using all straight lines.  There is something about the final look of the piece that I find more pleasing.  Sometimes when I have used a lot of curved lines in depicting subjects they tend to take on a cartoonish look but that may be just my own perception.

 I am a firm believer in having the unexpected "something" in a composition, whether that be a color or shape.  In this case I had one small tree in the upper center of my piece that seemed to stand alone.  I worried about there not being enough interest in this area but I didn't want to add anything too distracting as it was not a focal point.  I just needed a little added spark so things weren't too boring.

My solution was to use line to add interest.  I decided to add one curved line, amongst all my straight ones in this pattern, to the small tree standing alone in the snow.  As the tree will be a dark value against the lighter value of the snow, the line will be in marked contrast and very distinctive.  But not too distinctive.