Beginner tips for photographing my artwork?

I want to take some photos of my visual journal, collages, ect. but I'm a beginner when it comes to photography. Do any of you have tips for photographing both full scale and close-up shots?

I've heard that taking them outdoors helps when it comes to lighting, is this true?

out door over cast day is good for shadow reduction but the hues will be weak, sunny day bright hues watch out for shadows - like if you copy oil painted painting

the most common methed is two difussed lights at 45 degree angles to the subject, a camera and a tripod

for close ups, a macro lens, or exstention tubes or close up filters in that order

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as long as you never use a flash you should be fine! flash can take years off the life of a painting.

You don't say if you are using film or digital. In case of fire, I would save my Minolta SRT 201 first, with the macro and telephoto lenses. I use all manual control, so I can alter the depth of field and exposure factors.
However, in taking pictures for posting my work on line, I use a digital camera. I like being able to store and print instantly, and to balance color and light, not to mention size and crop. I built myself a "stage" out of foam core, that I can drape with a variety of backgrounds, or leave white, for maximum light. I have various easels and stands for 3D work, and I usually shoot right here in my office, which has a northern window. That way, I can keep glare to a minimum. And I can also alter the amount of flash that my Kodak Easyshare throws onto the subject. If my shot, in the viewer, doesn't look right to me, I can take several, changing the amount of flash for each shot...then just dump what I don't use.
If you go outdoors to take your pictures, or stay inside, just be sure that whatever you choose for a background does not detract from your subject.

I used diffused outdoor light with a shade over the painting. I underexposed this shot, but that was probably just as a result of bracketing. This was auto-white balance, but I think I tried "cloudy day" also and found no advantage for my set-up. Read the caption.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei...

This one is just indoors hanging on a wall in a room with fluorescent tubes overhead. Set the white balance to match or take a custom white balance. I think there are 8 tubes in the fixture, so there are no hot spots on the "painting."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei...

I wouldn't use the second one for publication as the first one was, but it's okay if you want to get just a "decent" image of your artwork.