A Bolder Celtic Knot

I have been enjoying incorporating celtic knots into my art so much, I opened a new Pinterest board just for examples.  I recently found an article called Get It Scrapped, by Debbie Hodge, that gave step by step directions for the following tangle.  Her directions were clear and easy to follow, which made the process pleasing.  I embellished the celtic knot with some of my favorite patterns and some new ones I'd been wanting to try.  I spent a lot of time working on shading techniques on this tangle with my Faber-Castle colored pencils and am pleased with the gradient effects and shading, but don't like all the patterns I chose. I am planning to do this celtic knot again with some different patterns.  I'm still not quite sure what to do with the background, leave it white or add a color.  Any suggestions?