AMY! Your mental health is more important than anything else. You have to stay healthy for you and your family. That's what should be at the top of the list! And girl, we all know how money makes the world go round, unfortunately. It's reality for all of us normal folks. Take a step back from the sponsored videos if you need to. No judgement and that's that. Just know that you're doing great with your efforts to get thru your artist block and all of this "stuff" and this situation is just temporary. 🙂 Keep movin forward! Thanks for the video this morning! Love the beach roses by the way!❤

Painting everyday - wow! Beautiful art and inspirational. 🙏💜

Beautiful paintings! I especially love the boat one; gorgeous!

Fantastic work, Amy! Congratulations on completing the challenge.Really enjoyed this video. 🥰

This is so good, what wonderful pieces ☺☺

Thank you so very much xxx

So happy to see you feeling better. I absolutely love the plein air pastel work and the landscapes you did. Loose does work for you! Best wishes for the future. I hope you find the balance that you are looking for.

Loved all the art and I’m so glad you enjoyed making it that’s the main thing. The colours in the boat scene are beautiful. Take care.😊👩🏻‍🎨

Hullo Amy, I just had to throw one extra comment in here and say that I would love to see the boat on the water the double sketchbook page? Yes that one would be great as a larger acrylic painting and you can certainly do it in more than one video! Good luck see you next video

Love those loose paintings so much! Beautiful.

Loved your week of art. I have similar problems and get it. I'm always grateful for good days!

Great week! I must say…… first time that I see you doing Art. Usually is mostly Art hauls but, do more art in you tube Please!!! loved it❤❤❤. Take care of your health… 🌺🌺🌺

Really enjoyed the video. Thanks, Amy.

I honestly love love your loose style...it would be nice to see more videos of you painting more loosely ❤️

New subscriber here! Loved the looser paintings. I find it so hard to loosen up. Everything I do is tiny and detailed and I always wish I would make the move to be looser and larger haha! Also understand so much about the creative block. Any pressure or stress, especially around monetising creativity, is so hard to work past. Glad you discovered the vitamin deficiency in the end, and absolutely loved the flowers on the beach painting. I am astonished it only took you an hour. Beautiful!

I’m not even halfway through, but I need to tell you that I absolutely loved the landscape paintings that you did the looseness and the fun that you had really shines through I’d love a print to put in a frame on my wall. I’m not someone who even really likes photo realistic artwork I mean if you want that just take a photo I understand there is significant skill but it’s just not my cup of tea. However I do understand that perfectionistic mindset. These paintings would have to be some of the most favourite paintings I’ve seen you do. I also like how you had fun in your sketchbook with the animals that you did at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re happy with the end result of the picture it’s that you had fun creating the page in the first place and that is what a sketchbook is for, having fun, trying new things they don’t have to work out the point is that you’re trying something different after all how else do we figure out how to use things. Good on you for going on a journey and working towards giving yourself permission, to just play and go back to the roots of your Art which is for therapy. I can relate very closely to this I have chronic pain after a car accident and Art Therapy has quite literally saved my life on more than one occasion when I was 16 I had a very severe eating disorder, and if it wasn’t for my art, I don’t know if I would still be here today.

I have made a very good surface with Liquitex clear gesso with pumice added for a rough pastel surface! I like UArt sanded paper but it is expensive for “practice”! I have found clear gesso with pumice a wonderful gritty surface for getting started with soft pastels! I have enjoyed prepping my sketchbook for soft pastels and using glassine to keep it from smearing.

Beautiful paintings! I really love the boat on the water. Happy for you to create so much. 😊❤

Glad to hear that you seem to have turned a bit of a corner this week. Those loose, mixed-media pieces all came out so well and you might be at the start of a whole new 'Amy-style' of creating, you never know! My artwork this week was a bit more modest than yours - we replaced our old kettle and just before we threw it away, I did a line and wash of it as a reminder of the good service it gave us (upwards of 5,000 cups of tea, we think) over the last 2 or 3 years. Not very ambitious, but anything is good as long as it keeps the pen moving and the bristles wet, I say. Thanks for the video - kind regards, Brian.

Oh gosh, it’s crazy how low Vit D impacts a body. I live in rainy Oregon and struggle keeping my level up. I’m so glad you’re doing better. The stress we put on ourselves impacts our autoimmune disease. I loved watching your art this week, not so planned. Hang in there and give yourself some grace and the income work will come back. ❤

💜💜💜

Glad to hear you had fun and are feeling better. Good video!

I really like your loose paintings! It's good to just do some loose paintings every now and then.

Love the landscape paintings!

Do you realize how gifted you are? Beautiful work, Amy! Thank you for sharing.

It's so good to see you excited about art! I totally love what you've done! Yeah, those vit D levels are so important. Like many people living in Washington state, I've always struggled with it. I was so low one year (at the end of summer even) that my Dr. put me on a 4 week regime of 50,000 units a week. It helped tremendously but I am back to lower levels. However, since they are at the bottom of "normal" range, my Dr. thinks it is acceptable. I am not so sure about that, but we shall see. Looking forward to the July challenge! I have a ton of 6 x 6 panels and canvases. I had started a 52-week mini-series class a couple of years haven't even come close to completing them all. I look forward to using up some of those supplies!

I’m so glad to see you enjoying art again. ♥️

Loving the loose style pieces! Which sketchbook are you working in?

Glad you had a positive week in art making. Looked fun and I love seeing all your art supplies.

12:38 I think you mean halftone screens! Japanese manga artists use something similar, it's really neat! I love how your sketchbook spread turned out :D

This was a good one! So glad they you found some joy in the process again. Please take care of yourself!

Great work! Especially loved your loose landscapes!

Congratulations on completing the art challenge. The art work is great, particularly the pastel ones. Keep working on your loose style. It's what you love and you are a fine artist. I hope that you can reduce some of the pressures you are facing. You are sounding more enthusiastic and looking good. Take care. ❤

Love,love,love your loose landscapes! I don't know what is required of you for sponsored videos but the work you show here is awesome. Can you make changes in your approach to sponsored videos so you have as much fun as you had with the art everyday week? Thanks Amy and I'm glad you're feeling better.

I loved to see all the different mediums you used and the results are great. I especially loved the raccoons - they look like they have a lot of charakter. Thanks for the video!

At some point, when you have time 😂, a video on different kinds of pastels, how they’re used and pluses/minuses would be interesting. I see pastels described as hard, soft, pencil (different from colored pencils?), wax, oil, water-soluble oil (??). Maybe there are others. Just curious about them.

Hi Amy. Glad to see you're enjoying some art again. 🙂

Oh, dear lady. I'll bet the stress is all the things you mentioned. I accepted a commission piece right before Christmas in my most loved medium, pastels. I stressed over that piece so much!

I would still watch you, even if you didn’t do sponsored videos. ❤️

Hi Amy, I agree with Victoria your mental health is so important. I live with chronic disease and autoimmune disorder as well. Wondering if you have been creating any art that is just for you? If not, and you’re finding there isn’t the time (or energy) then maybe it would be good to take a step back from some of your sponsored videos for a bit and create art just for you! I think you may find the joy returns without the added pressures.

Dear beautiful Amy, first of all thank you for being so raw, open and honest, you are not alone. I have never been able to actually produce photorealistic or even semi-realistic artwork. I was also taught like many of us that it had no worth, that you were bad at art if it didn’t look like the picture you were referencing. I think you’ll find a lot of people with Art horror stories from growing up. In fact, why don’t you mention in one of your videos for people to share their art horror stories? It might help us all feel less alone, and also allow people who have ideas to share with the community. It has taken me literally decades to realise that you can have all the skill in the world to do whatever your thing is, you can even be extremely financially successful (artist), but if your not enjoying the process, expressing your feelings/passion/thoughts, having fun, experiencing the flow state, then it’s defeating the point. I thin we all have this mentality (because it happened when we were young) that we are going to be graded on our art (performance) & somehow the type of person we are. We think our self-worth is directly linked to how well we perform in the eyes of others, so if it’s not perfect, and we’ll executed, then we think this has to mean we’re not perfect , we’re not enough and somehow we are are not doing the right thing, we must be doing something wrong. We subconsciously fear we will get a bad grade/review/feedback/reception and therefore will be perceived as less than an impostor. I’m pretty sure we also think there are consequence if it’s not perfect, whether that be in our eyes of others. This is where we actually have to STOP & CHALLENGE those thoughts that we all have, because at the end of the day we’re not doing this for everyone else, we’re not being graded, it’s definitely IS NOT linked to what we are worth as a human being. We should be doing it to enjoy the process. We’re doing it as a gift to ourselves, and if it’s not perfect, the world won’t end and there are will be no negative consequences, if we don’t like what we’ve created we can do another one. Key Words here are STOP & CHALLENGE. When I have an Art block which has been quite common for me, I even went through a severe bout of depression, and I didn’t pick up any art material for 7 years. I had a wonderful art therapist, who would just sit with me as I couldn’t bring myself to do anything. I eventually started by just doing circles of colour with my watercolours, just like when we swatching and I continue to do that for quite sometime. I still do it now when I can’t think of something to do or I just need a break to zone out. At the end of the day you’re still creating you’re still doing art and you’re still having that time for yourself, and that, after all, is it not the essence of why we do art. My next challenge was to learn to loosen up. I did that by creating a piece of work in my sketchbook, or a blank piece of paper, and I would say to myself, “ this can going straight in the bin or it’s for my eyes only” “ after all what does it really matter what it looks like I have full control over who sees it. When I found myself trying to be perfect, getting too tight or stressed I make myself stop and check-in, I may start another piece or step away for about five minutes and then come back. Eventually I realised no one else holds me to the standards i do. Best trick I’ve ever learned is constantly reminding myself when you have that nasty negative voice, is ask yourself, “Would you speak to a loved one child/spouse/friend/loved family member like that?” Would you even allow someone to say such things to them? Wouldn’t you speak up for them and put a stop to it?” Then when you realise that you would never allow someone to do this to someone special to you you have to ask the question, “What makes you think you’re so special that these rules don’t also apply to you?” “Why should you get special treatment or be the exception?” (Even when it’s negative) You need to look at yourself as a separate person, and that negative voice as a bully, picking on someone you care about, with constant correction and even snapping back at that voice (thoughts), you’ll find your freedom and your own voice again I promise.

you tube Amy is making very good content ,i love your art and channel ,be well my love

everyone needs a vacation please take care of your self I have an artist friend and she did a lot of teaching but she really wanted to just do art. She got sick and had to slowdown. She decided to focus on her art and she just sold 2 of her paintings she made more money on those painting than she did teaching part time art classes.Sometimes you just got to take a chance .Just a thought PS I don't believe anyone who watches this channel wants you do get sick I think you have understanding folks that subscribe to your channel

Preserve your mental health above all else.

if possible, could you try to not do the speed videos? I enjoy watching your videos, but the speed videos make me dizzy. I know a lot of people use them, but I don't subscribe to any channels that resort to that. Real time is always more enjoyable. At about 6 min. you started speeding up and I had to scroll through that whole section. There are many channels that don't do that and I'm hoping you will consider this change. I love Sandi Hester, and I don't believe I have ever seen her speed up her videos, which I am so thankful for. Please at least think about it