"Water",  the first of a series of four pieces of canvas work exploring the texture of the ancient elements, earth, air, water and fire, is finished.Interestingly, the very last area I embroidered turned out to be my favourite! If you look at the bottom right corner of the piece (below) you can see an area that looks like waves.Can you see it? Just to the left and above the copyright mark in the photo above (and as a close up in the photo below). I was so chuffed when the stitch actually looked the way I imagined when I started!This piece was always about experimenting with canvas stitches. After I finished my RSN Certificate piece, I decided I needed to play with canvas stitches to understand how different stitches using different fibres would look. This piece achieved that goal, and, it also is one of my favourite pieces.Canvas work can be full of texture - perhaps more than any other embroidery. The texture can give a sense of depth, of movement and of direction. The strong diagonal texture of the medium and light blue area shot with silver give the impression of gentle, constant movement. (above in the centre) Smooth textures tend to give the impression of restfulness like the tent stitched area with the green sea weed growing inside. (see below)Looking at embroidery from an angle lets us see more clearly the impact of texture. The stitching then takes on a landscape quality. In this piece, it also highlights the silver thread I used to imitate the sparkle that water has when the sun shines.Turning a piece of canvas work lets us see the stitches from yet another angle: look how much darker the waves look in the photo below? The effect of light on how we perceive texture and colour is something I often ignore and only notice when I've taken photos and am looking at them.As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, this is the first of a group of four entitled Elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. I think I'll begin Air next...