It is fair to say I have a self interest, but that said, I think it is worth exploring if a web site is for you.

Since becoming an artist I have enjoyed sharing my work with others, also I have had questions about my work. So I regard a web site as an updatable catalogue of my activities and work..... open to anyone who cares to look at it.

On a general level a lot of people think of the web as their first point of investigation for most information. With that in mind anyone who wishes to communicate anything to a wider audience should have a web presence.

For artists that want to sell their work, a web site gives galleries and potential customers the chance of seeing as many pictures as the artist wishes to share. By being careful how you set your site up you can work in harmony with potential agents, by including links to their galleries and not showing prices but inviting contact.

So a web site can work on many levels, I enjoy a circle of friends who can and do pass comment to encourage my work. I have also used it as a way to get into the door of galleries. While you can take it to the next step and use it as a selling tool.... In truth those that have web sites see it as a mixture of all three. A 'catalogue' of possibilities.

Now the other questions, some are around 'head in the sand' stuff. We all do it, if we are not interested in a subject we can pretend it is 'not there' and lets be honest web site production is a boring subject if you are creative ( but please look at a book called 'Websites 100% loaded' ISBN 3-89985-050-5 to demonstrate how artistically interesting  web sites can be)

 Question 1 'I do not have a computer or an e mail address...is it
                      for me?'....it is going to be difficult to interact with it or other
                      people via the site...
Question 2 'I have an e mail address, computer and I
                     am connected to the internet but I only
                     have two pictures I want to show'....
                     keep painting and talk to me when you have a few more.
Question 3  ' I am a keen artist with a computer, e mail address, etc.
                     but I am not personally interested in the www...you might not
                     be, but there is a whole lot of people out there that are. It is not
                     going to go away but dramatically increase as more
                     people get broadband and there is a big group of people out
                     there where the web is the first place they look for their information.

Do not worry, I can deal with the technical side for you.... and if you can look at the rest of this site you will see I enjoy creative input from my clients.

I hope I have made the case for your interest in this relatively new world, even if you don't wish to engage in the www.!