Hi Karen, In Photoshop, try boosting up the dpi - say from 300 to 400 or even 600. That way any blue colors in the painting won't get washed out. other color should be more viberant. You can always change the contrast, hues etc. in adjustments. hope this helps.
Cheers,
Steve
www.stevedelmontestudio.com

You can also do what many painters still do and that is to find a professional in your area that will either do a calibrated high-res scan for you or will take a professionally lit digital image that you can then use.

Thanks y'all for your answers. My paintings aren't that big,yet, so they fit on my scanner. I will try scanning at a higher resolution first. Investing in a professional photographer right now is not in my budget, but perhaps a college student at the local community college is looking for some extra cash. But then again what renders on my monitor is totally different than what prints. I really don't like my printer. I have ordered my cards from GCU and have been very happy with the printing of the colors.

I use picnik too, you can adjust the exposure.

Quote from Karen_137659 on Jan 30^th, 2011, 2:23pm:

 
It can be tricky Karen.
Cheap scanners often produce blurry images no matter what dpi (Though I would recommend scanning at a high resolution - it will help.) Newer scanners do a pretty good job. You don't need a $10,000 scanner anymore (we did actually have one at the printer I worked for).
Cameras can produce distortions because of the lens (curvature on the edges - usually inward). But you can learn how to shoot artwork yourself - there are tips if you google "photographing artwork" - it's not hard, just takes a bit of planning. That said - most cameras can change the dpi they shoot at - check your camera manual - higher's better.
 
As for the colors - OY! that's a whole 'nother thing. Some scanners scan more blue, some monitors lean to more green, some printers print heavy on magenta or yellow. Before you know it you're not sure what you're actually looking at or how to fix it.  
 
I can tell you that learning how to color correct & trust the numbers (the RGB or CMYK numbers) - not the screen or the printer - is the only way to go. If you are using Photoshop I highly recommend the books under the Visual Quickstart Guides or look at ones in your local library. Often you can find a Beginner's Photoshop adult ed class in your local school district or local community college night course.
 
Some quick tips - because I could sit and do this all day -  
1. When color correcting - always start with a hi-res image.  
2. change your color mode to Lab color. Then go to levels and move the slider for greyscale. Learn how to read a histogram (tells you whether your image is too dark, too light, too contrasty, etc.) move the right hand slider around to get a white. Don't go too crazy. the left slider is for darks & middle is mid-tones - easy, right? Then you can change the mode back to RGB or CMYK - what ever you're most comfortable color correcting in.  
3. I then use the Curves palette to make adjustments.  
4. Familiarize yourself with what makes what colors (the numbers). 100%M & 100%Y is red (sometimes w/10% Cyan), 50%M & 100Y is orange. Know that skin tones usually don't have any (or very limited) cyan. Refer to a physical color chart for CMYK (or RBG) - compare your art and then what you see on the screen & look at the numbers. Trust the numbers.  
5. Lean how to calibrate your screen - it's still not perfect - because it's backlit & we look at things front lit.
 
Now even though I've gone on quite a bit, don't be scared. It's learnable. ANd you'll be happier with your printed images. Good luck!
 

I was just going to mention in regard to photographing artwork, the key is lighting, also angle and the lens you use or if you're using a zoom, adjusting the zoom to match the format of your camera at it's normal mode.  
Lighting should be diffused natural light unless you are really good with the adjustments for artificial light on your camera.  An inexpensive diffuser is a thin white sheet stretched across some type of frame and high enough out of your way so as to not to hinder your camera setup. Simple white posterboard or whatever you can scrounge up for reflector boards from each side and below is helpful as well  to light your work evenly.
You want to make sure you are shooting your work straight on and preferably with the camera mounted on a tripod and using a remote shutter or the timed shutter release.  The work more than likely will be on an easel and should be directly flat with the lens.  
The lens should as well be evenly matched as normal which is a 1:1 aspect ratio to the CMOS sensor of the camera which is aprox. a 42mm lens I think with most digital cameras today other than some of the higher end cameras like the Canon Mark 1V which are closer to the old 35mm format of which a normal lens was considerd 50mm.
When you're framing your subject(the artwork) in your viewfinder or on the viewing screen, crop it as tight as you can so you're using the maximum area of your focusing screen for the highest resolution.  You'll still have to crop the edges as most artwork won't match the dimensions of your canera's format size.  In case I'm not using the right terminology, my Canon 40D has a 2X3 aspect ratio.  Ideally if my artwork is exactly a multiple of that, 4X6, 8X12, 12X18 or 20X30, then I would be able if my camera was set squarely to the artwork  and with the exact focal length, be able to crop thee image in the camera to fit.  that hardly ever happens though so be prepared to crop once your image is downloaded to your photo editing software.  Still the largest area you can photograph, the more resolution you will have to work with.  
There are some other tricks with settings of your camera, ISOs and such which help and my numbers and terminology may be off a bit as I'm no teacher, but the basic rules of even, natural lighting, keeping your angles to a minimum, avoiding shaking or movement and not using a lens which distorts prespective are the keys to photographing artwork and has always worked for me with good results.

Quote from Karen_137659 on Jan 30^th, 2011, 6:13pm:

 
I had exactly the same situation Karen! Not happy w/my HP all in one. I only scan when I absolutely HAVE to & quality isn't an issue.
I use a Brother All in one at work now that does a really nice job.