Hope you have all been keeping well while I’ve been gone. It’s lovely to see all the new users and artwork on the site - although it’s going to take me ages to catch up on who everyone is! And talking of artwork, I have the winner of the first creative challenge. It’s Lynne Mitchell, who painted a beautiful blossom image. See the winning entry in issue 4 and also see some of the other submissions. Ooo, and don’t forget to enter the new challenge! We love seeing your work

Hello! I just wanted to let you all know that I am going to be out of contact for the next two weeks - I am going to be having a lovely time running around Seattle and Vancouver like a crazed banshee, taking loads of photos that I will bore you with for the next year’s worth of challenges. Speaking of which

I find it interesting that most Corel Painter users seem to gravitate towards the oil or pastel brushes. Do any of you use the watercolour options? If you do, let me know. I'm planning a watery extravaganza!

One question that artists are always asked is what their inspiration is. So now I'm asking you - is your muse other artists, people, films, places

It’s good to see how popular the Gallery section of the site is becoming, but don’t forget about the magazine. We’re really keen to include as much work from readers as possible, so drop me an email (jo.cole@imagine-publishing.co.uk) if you’d like to appear in print.

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!