canvases with texture

I have just spent a great evening at my children's secondary school. They are running evening courses for parents and the one I signed up for was 'contemporary canvases'. The art department is to die for, it oozes the work of talented students, so it was fantastic just to work in such inspiring surroundings.

We were shown how to blend coloured emulsion and use masks, and how to add texture using caulk, polyfilla and glass paints. After practising these techniques on paper, we were let loose on a small canvas. My tree is a masked circle sprayed over with silver paint, with leaves added using glass paint liner. I'd like to add texture within the leaves using beads and embroidery thread.

The classes last for another two Tuesdays. Our homework for this week is to choose a canvas size to fit somewhere at home and design an image to go on it. We have been provided with an ideas sheet so we can use one of those or design our own. I'm planning on something based on a flower image. Will have to get the design passed by my husband ;)