There’s a general rule in magazine publishing that you should never disclose what you’re working on or what content is in an upcoming issue. Unfortunately we’re not very good at keeping secrets, so if you pop over to the forum from Wednesday, you’ll be treated to little teasers about what you can expect to find in issue 2 of the magazine!

Everyone gets to the stage where the painting they are working on just doesn’t make any sense. That’s why we have a Work in Progress section on the magazine forum, so you can upload your in progress shots and get constructive feedback from others. You’ll find it in the Feedback section, so go to www.paintermagazine.co.uk/forum

Okay, so issue two isn’t due to go on sale for quite a while yet (29 March to be exact) but I really wanted to tell you about one of the tutorials. It’s by Jeff Johnson (who was featured in issue one’s Readers’ Gallery) and it’s about cloning a photo and getting the effect of oil glaze. I think some people are quick to snub the Clone tool, but this tutorial shows that it is actually a really creative technique. So make sure you don’t miss out!

I need some help (insert own joke here). I am convinced that there must be loads of really good Painter books, but I’m buggered if I can find them. So this is a call to you all - let me know of any helpful books you’ve found and I’ll pass the details on. It doesn’t matter how obscure they may be - inquiring minds want to know!

Well we’ve just sent issue 2 off to the printers all safe and sound and are now starting on issue 3! It’s really nice seeing how the magazine is developing and deciding what bits work and what bits can be improved. It’s also good to see your feedback from issue 1 - rest assured we’ll take your comments and ideas on board.

I watched a TV programme on Sunday (I promise I do other stuff than just watch TV) about L S Lowry and I was blown away by some of his paintings and sketches. I never knew he had so much scope and his portraits are amazing. So I’ve decided that every now and then, I’ll mention any artist that has impressed me and we can all have a look at them. If you have a favourite artist that you’d like to share with the world, let me know and I’ll mention them too!

Apologies for the slight blips occurring on the website in the past couple of days - we have upgraded to a shiny new server and everything was being copied over. If you’ve had trouble accessing links or content, it was no doubt because the link was in one place while the content was in another! But all is good now, so enjoy the site and upload your images!

I caught the end of a TV programme last night about an artist who spends a maximum of one hour on every painting he does and his work was amazing. It got me thinking about artistic styles and how you go about finding your technique. So I’d like to hear from anyone out there about their working practices. Is you technique instinctive, does it change according to subject or is it a case of you still haven’t found what you’re looking for? Let me know and I hope you all have a great weekend. Speak to you Monday!

I'd love to say that today saw us spending long and complex hours planning the magazine in finite detail but the truth is we spent most of it creating images to upload to the gallery section! It's great to see some of you joining in and I can't wait until this becomes a thriving community of eager artists.