smudge troubles in layers

[fil kearney]

okay... if I have two layers overa white canvas, layer one (below) is painted blue. layer two (above) jas a red circle painted red.
if I use the smudge tool to make the cirlcle bigger, it won't just spread the red paint... it leaves white straks everywhere!!!! can I use smudge to distort images on one layer while not co ering another with ugly white marks everywherer?

[negativespace]

In the layers pallette, did you check mark the box next to Pick Up Underlying Color.

[fil kearney]

that takes care of it. lol

still learning....:)