Last night I "sacraficed my quilt (it's for learning, right?) to experimentation with Shiva paint sticks. What a cool medium! I've had the paint sticks for quite a while, but never tried them. Now i'm ready to start again, and i'll use this first quilt to experiment with shading. Your feedback has been invaluable. Thank you for taking so much interest. Your words of encouragement have been so uplifting!