What can I do to create my own website to showcase my artistic works?

You can create a free professional website with Microsoft Office Live Small Business - http://tinyurl.com/officelive . It comes with a free online design tool that lets you create web pages without coding. Currently, MS is offering a free domain name (i.e. yourartsite.com) for the first year. You and your friends can upload to it as long as they have access to the editor (up to 5 users for free). You also get 500mb of free storage.