I guess I have to start with a fairly fundamental question; do you want the site to primarily focus on you as the artist so people know who they're dealing with, or on your work so people can see what you've done? I realise you'll want to do a bit of both, but I think the approach required for each is different.
For instance, focusing on you will involve text people need to read, but a screen full of text is boring. As a result, artistic backgrounds, carefully chosen colour schemes and interactive elements can add interest. If, on the other hand, you want to focus on your work, I would suggest a site design that is really simple so visitors can look at your pictures without too many distractions.
My site shows my photos. I don't set it up as an example of excellence, but I am comfortable with it. Plain white background and a disappearing menu, along with a non-serif font mean the eyes are drawn to the colour of the photos, and therefore towards the whole reason for the site.
On the other hand, an example site focusing a lot on an artist is Chris Rose. He's got a surprising amount of text, but it feels to me like a good balance between who he is and what he can do. In particular, his "About" page gives a lot to read, but the use of different elements to break up the page and a fairly plain image as a background to add interest without distraction mean the whole thing is not daunting for the visitor.
Does that help?
