does my website have what it needs to make it . I also want input on my paintings go to MarshaHicks.com ?

I don't think that the website is everything it can be, and you have not presented your artwork very well at all! And most artists limit personal information to their artists statement and a resume of shows, sales, and achievements -- yours has excessive personal statements and information. And being as your art is what the website is all about, you need to learn how to photograph and post your art correctly,

The first thing you need to do is learn how to take a good photograph of your art. Simply this means:

~ Take you photos in the shade outdoors on a bright overcast day for the best color.

~ Use the highest resolution setting.

~ Place your art against a black or neutral medium gray background

~ Make sure your cameral lens is perfectly parallel to the plane of the painting or you will distort the image

~ Take several photos using "bracketing' or slightly different settings to see which is best

~ When you down load your photos into your computer, use your photography program to edit immediately: Crop so you see nothing outside the edge of of your paintings. Adjust the brightness, color or exposure if the photo is not quite the best it can be. Save only the best image for use.

In your photos it is evident you did not hold the camera parallel because the edges of the paintings are not aligned with the edges of the photo of them. It is also evident in more than one you took the picture with a flash and several were taken in the frames with glass, which is a no-no because the glare obstructs the art from good viewing.

Once you get your art photographed well and ready to post, you may want to rethink the "cuteness" factor of your folksy web-pages. This might work for a craftsperson or furniture maker, but for a fine artist the website should be all about the art. The best websites are simple, neutrally colored (dark green, dark grey, subtle) and the "gallery" or "portfolio" button is the simplest to find. I had to look for yours, which is not capitalized, while everything else is. Get rid of all categories but Resume* and a short artist's statement, and your contact button, and put your mini-bio in with your statement. Artists don't need a mission statement, and using it looks amateurish. If you are not going to use the blog, having a new entry at least every month or so, forget it. A guest book. . . not everyone will want to sign in. I'd skip it. This is not a visiting site; it is a place to show off your artwork.

*About that resume: on a website such as this you should not be posting your lifetime history of education and jobs and unemployed periods of your life. A resume on an artist website should list art classes taken after high school, any shows you have been accepted to, any awards you have received for art, and a any art you have sold (I list the city and state, not the person's name) You do not list references.

As far as sales, from what you have posted on your website I believe your work could use some serious polishing. We are not sure, looking at your website, what medium each piece of artwork is done in, because you haven't told us. If you are going to try to show and sell this summer, you need to paint many more works than we see here. You need to be working on composition and values, and show some work in color and color mixing. If you are going to enter shows, you will have competition. If you are going to try your hand at an arts and crafts booth, you will need a large variety and inventory of art to show. I have been there. . . it is hard work.

I had to try a couple of times before I got a website that I can add art to and manage well. A few changes and a little polishing and yours should serve your needs. Good luck.

You are about 13 years younger than I am, although until I looked at your CV, I took the site to be of someone much, much younger.

As a website of an artist, it is lacking and contains the stuff one puts on not very good non-profit organization stuff. You don't need most of what you have there, you need to check the spelling of what you leave behind and you need to post a lot more pictures.

People are not going to buy your art because of your background. They are going to be attracted by what they see in your paintings - either the quality of the image or emotion of the content.

You probably need to explore and show at some of the lower cost art and craft shows that will mostly occur later in the spring, then blossom again in the fall after a weak summer. Keep an eye on the papers, write to towns within traveling distance about Heritage Festivals and Old Time Days and other such events and ask your instructors and librarians what they can point you at.

All it needs is a short bio, a short statement, and alot of art. Get rid of your resume, there is very little there that is relative to your art. Photogragh your art head on, never at an angle. Use a seperate light source so you don't have to use the camera flash. I photogragh mine using a digital camera and my work can be checked out at hellosanantonio.com under artist name GUERRO1.

you need to have photos without date stamps - they look unprofessional. Your statement of purpose is a bit lame. I like your use of color in your paintings. I like the background and layout our your site, although I think the statement does not need to be the homepage. I would choose some images instead. There are many spelling mistakes.