Q and A with Brandy Carter 
~ MIR Bronze Bat logo by Brandy Carter ~
MIR: Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to chat with me about your work.
BC: Of course! I’m happy to be here!
MIR: When did you first discover your interest in visual art?
BC: Art has always been the one constant in my life. As a kid, drawing/painting/coloring was my form of play time. So I suppose being an artist has been with me since day one. Getting older just made it “stick” more.
MIR: Do you have a preferred media? Paint, pen/ink, pencil, etc. If so, what was the process of discovering where you feel most comfortable?
BC: My comfort zone is definitely old school pen and ink drawing on paper, as well as painting with acrylic and gouache. I’ve always been such a detail oriented person and would spend a lot of time eyeing work from other artists I admired and trying to dissect what they used and how they did it. I found that using inks enabled me to fill the page with as many tiny details as possible.
Painting on the other hand is more therapeutic, and didn’t really discover my love for it until high school.
MIR: Regarding physical art, is there an item that you look to and feel sentimental or emotional about? Maybe nostalgia or a family heirloom?
BC: This painting that I did when I was 18 stays with me, and I have turned down selling it several times. It was the first bigger painting I ever did, and was an experimental piece for me. I keep it around to remind myself to step outside of my comfort zone a little more often. Before this painting, I pretty much only made art of pinup style ladies, and was feeling stuck in a rut. I forced myself to work on this piece for as long as possible, not letting myself get distracted or abandon it when I got frustrated. This creepy cute baphomet opened a lot of doors in a brain that was locked up. :)
MIR: Do you listen to specific music while you work, different music for different days or do you typically work without any dedicated background sound?
BC: I almost always have music playing, whether it be for work or play. When I’m in a creative mood, I tend to gravitate towards more instrumental tracks. Some albums that I go back to time after time are definitely Plantasia by Mort Garson, Cosmic Sounds by The Zodiac, and A LOT of Goblin.
I do switch it up sometimes to fit the vibe of what I’m creating, so there are times when I will go for more atmospheric or spacey stuff which would include albums like Interdimensional Invocations by Xoth and Years of Past Matter by Krallice.
MIR: Where can readers find your work? Website, social media, other?
BC: You can find my work mostly on my Instagram, (@witherwaxx) and I am trying to post more on TikTok as well (same name as Instagram)
MIR: Thank you again for your time and interest. Is there anything you would like to add before we wrap this up?
BC: Thank you FOR the interest! I just want to show a few of my favorite things that I’ve made over the years.
