During her lifetime, Amiss was not well known as an artist and spent large periods of her life in psychiatric hospitals and units, often against her will and following arrest for civil disturbance.

On having an artwork rejected by an art society, Amiss wrote to her sister: 'I was once in the tradition of social realism, also called the kitchen sink school of painting.

'[5] Amiss described her work as "a visual diary", and her drawings and paintings took their subject matter from the world around her, including still life, landscapes, local scenes, portraits, figures and objects.

[1] Amiss' artwork is thematically rooted in the real world, with works taking their subject matter from her surroundings, including people, street scenes, objects, landscapes, and nature.

Earlier portfolio works show Amiss experimenting with texture and architecture studies, different styles and techniques, and print-making.

[8] Amiss also created compositional works using found material such as junk mail, food packaging and newspaper cuttings, which were pasted into scrapbooks.

For most of her adult life, Amiss lived in South London, in Clapham, with her mother Belle, who had sold the family shop in Sunderland to be nearer to her daughter.

Belle died in 1989, after which time Amiss lived alone in the flat in Clapham, until her death in 2013, though her family maintained contact and provided her with support.

According to a family member, Amiss began documenting the food she ate in scrapbooks following a Health Visitor's advice to track her diet.

[1] Amiss also recorded money she spent and received, keeping a log of all her receipts and encounters in shops in a series of account books.

These books include pasted and handwritten receipts in chronological order, annotated with Amiss' commentary on the finances and money tendered, as well as recording details of her shopping experiences.

Amiss also collected and stuck down bank and pension statements, postal orders, tickets, envelopes and letters, appointment cards, and sometimes food packaging within these volumes.

[1] Over the course of her life, Amiss was admitted to psychiatric hospitals on numerous occasions and diagnosed with a number of mental health conditions, including paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.