Adjustment curves layer not showing on background image

Hi all, 

I am trying my hand at fine art editing and I followed a youtube tutorial for dodging and burning parts of an image. I created a curves adjustment layer, moved my curve to lighten the image then inverted to hide the adjustment. Then tried using the dodge brush to brighten some areas of the image. Nothing happens when i do this. 

If I make my background layer active and use the dodge tool, this works but of course I don't want to edit this layer directly. 

I am using Photoshop 2023 (I was using 2022 yesterday and had the same issue). Is there a step I am missing here? 

I have attached screen shots for reference.