A Taste of Whimsy, A Vision for Success: 100% Kosher with Ethan Cranke

In this episode of The Painterly Life podcast, host Shannon Grissom sits down with visual storyteller Ethan Crank to explore the rich narrative behind his art. Ethan shares the story of how he entered the world of painting, revealing the early influences that shaped his creative voice. From the haunting beauty of shipwrecks to the playful charm of his piece 100% Kosher, Ethan discusses the themes that anchor his work and the subtle role humor plays in connecting with audiences. He also opens up about the impact of space—both physical and emotional—on his art, his daily creative rituals, and what he hopes to achieve through his evolving body of work. This conversation is a deep dive into the mind of an artist committed to creating meaningful, resonant pieces that speak to the viewer’s imagination and heart.

Takeaways

Ethan's early experiences in museums sparked his passion for painting.
He emphasizes the importance of space in experiencing art.
Ethan's work often reflects themes of connection and oneness.
His artistic evolution includes a focus on shipwrecks and their narratives.
Humor plays a significant role in his whimsical pieces.
Daily rituals help Ethan maintain his creative flow.
He believes in visualizing the impact of his art on viewers.
Ethan encourages artists to take risks and not wait for their turn.
His upcoming series aims to celebrate the figure in a new way.
Ethan values sharing the stories behind his art with the audience.

Chapters

• 0:00 Igniting Creativity: Introduction to Painterly Life
• 0:50 Ethan Crank: The Journey into Painting
• 5:55 The Impact of Space on Art Appreciation
• 7:59 Connecting with the Masters: Old and Modern
• 14:03 The Evolution of Artistic Themes: Shipwrecks and Whimsy
• 19:56 Daily Rituals: The Artist's Process
• 24:56 Visualizing Success: Advice for Young Artists
• 30:09 Future Aspirations: Upcoming Projects and Shows

Transcript

Shannon Grissom (00:05)
Hi, I'm Shannon Grissom. Are you looking to ignite your creativity? Or how about be inspired by a steady stream of muses? Welcome to Painterly Life, the podcast that celebrates those who create, inspire, and innovate. So whether you're looking to spark your next big idea, reignite your passion, or simply soak in some creative energy,

This is the place for you. Painterly life, where every guest is a new muse, just for you.

Welcome to the Painterly Life podcast. I'm your host, Shannon Grissom. Today's guest is Ethan Crank. Ethan is a visual storyteller and he's captivated by the alchemy of light. He crafts paintings that pull you in before you even know why. His paintings don't just ask to be seen, they demand to be felt. Welcome, Ethan.

Ethan Cranke (01:15)
Thank you. Thank you. I'm very happy to be here.

Shannon Grissom (01:18)
Let's start at the beginning. What first drew you to painting? What pulled you in?

Ethan Cranke (01:26)
When I was young, we'd go to the museums a lot in San Francisco. I have a lot of history there. My grandparents lived there. My great grandparents lived there. My uncle lived there. And so my mom, we'd go down and spend time in the city while I was born there. And then when we moved out, we'd go down all the time. And I think

Well, there were a couple of, I'd always get lost in the classical paintings. I'd get lost in the formal structures, even before I understood what the story was or what the symbols meant. ⁓ I was very interested in how those paintings arrested people, them still in their tracks. And I knew there was something there in the technique.

more so than in the story. knew there was ⁓ something going on and how they structured the composition to keep people in the painting and not let their eyes wander off. I knew there was something there and it was mastery of the visual language more so than the story I think that pulled me in. ⁓ But then I have to be honest, also a 20th century, a kid of the 20th century so.

And we'd go to the ⁓ SF MoMA in the 80s when it was still at City Hall before they had the new building. And it was much smaller. And a lot of the paintings were in these tight little hallways, like they had a lot of Joan Miró and Kandinsky and that kind of thing. And I wandered into this room that suddenly breathed and had a lot of space to it. And it was this room dedicated to just these giant, massive Clyfford Still paintings. ⁓

I know that kind of art, a lot of the heroic modernist masters have kind of fallen out of fashion in a way, but I still have a weak spot for it. And I was just sitting there by myself looking at just these massive paintings that had no real narrative other than just a feeling. And it was like a religious experience, what a lot of people would consider religious experience. And I was probably only 10.

something like that. And I think that was a big one for me was just sitting there quietly. They had this nice bench just by myself in this room surrounded by these massive Clyfford Still paintings on all sides. And ⁓ there was just a depth, a real connection to another human being through them, just a universal oneness, whatever you want to say. It just all kind of rushed in and I didn't know.

what I want to do, but I did know I wanted to do something like that. I wanted to pursue whatever that feeling was. yeah, at first I did all sorts of crazy, know, flinging paint and crushing up chalk pastels and throwing the powder on the wet paint and doing all sorts of experimental things. you know, and I think that's a good place to start because you get

familiar with the materials, you're not afraid to use the materials, it keeps you from being too timid with them. ⁓ so I think I always had that appreciation for the classical painters. I just didn't know how to tap into that. It was almost this unattainable thing to me when I was little, like as far as their skill, the skill, I knew that I'd have to put in some time if I wanted to get to that point.

and, so now after 30 years, think I'm finally, ⁓ 30 years of doing this more full time almost. I'm finally kind of, ⁓ hitting my stride as far as I, I don't really have any, ⁓ technical questions. It's more conceptual and ⁓ compositional, you know, that sort of thing.

When you first start out, it's more like, how am I going to do this? And I'm kind of past the how-to point. It's more, what am I going to do with this? I don't know if that makes sense.

Shannon Grissom (05:55)
It does make

sense. does make sense. So we're you touched on I'm thinking I'm going to back up in that.

The works that you saw in the hall, were they different than what you saw in the big room or do you think it was the lack of space that ⁓ you couldn't absorb them as well as you could the ones that were in the room?

Ethan Cranke (06:25)
I that's part of it. Yeah. Because I love Juan Moreau and Kandinsky and those guys. It's just they were, yeah, they were these narrow halls and you couldn't really stand back from the paintings very much. And I think I just naturally gravitated towards that room that is almost like an altar space or something, or just almost like a temple in a way that really allowed you to breathe so much more than those tight corridors. But then once I was in there, I'm like, what is this I'm looking at? And it just...

It really talked to me. It's just full of texture. And I later found out he was ⁓ the head of my art school back in the 50s. I didn't even know that at the time. It just happened that I went to the same art school that he was. And I found out those paintings he'd made in the basement of the San Francisco Art Institute. ⁓ And just packed with emotion. He was a really sincere, earnest painter.

So I don't know, I think that.

⁓ There isn't all that much of a separation between the old masters and the modern masters. I think that ⁓ the end goal is the same and that it all feeds on the same impulse, which is to stop the viewer in their tracks, you know, and to create this moment of

I guess oneness with the universe, know, whatever you want to however you want to see it.

Shannon Grissom (08:04)
It's that connection. Yeah. You're totally dialed in, tuned in, one with everything. When you do it right, that's how it happens. I think about ⁓ your work and you were talking about heroic modern masters. Both your whimsical work and your more classical work are of epic paintings.

They both fall in that category. So I'm thinking about anticipation and endurance. Can you tell me how those evolved?

Ethan Cranke (08:44)
Yeah, the ⁓

The resource material happened first. There was ⁓ this captain who was known for getting drunk and running his ships aground, I guess. So this wasn't the first one, although this is the first one I got wind of early enough to actually go out and see it. And there's just something fascinating about a shipwreck that's run aground. A ship that's run aground, it has this element of

of mystery to it, element of adventure, ⁓ element of getting lost along the way, of human error, all that stuff. And so just the ship alone was pretty amazing with the ball of sun behind it, silhouetteing it. And then there were these kids playing and running into the waves and running up to the ship and they're playing tag and all sorts of things. And I just...

I started just taking photographs. I knew I wanted to do something with it. I didn't know what, but it was just this perfect moment in time that felt important and had ⁓ a narrative element to it that I didn't know what it was. And I just started taking lots and lots of photos and ⁓ I didn't have my sketchbook with me, but ⁓ I knew that I would use it. But then, I put it aside for a while and I didn't quite know what I was going to use it

I just knew this was some good stuff. ⁓

So in between that time and my building this studio, my original studio was flooded when the Russian River flooded last. And I rescued these panels before they were submerged. And a whole bunch of time passed because I had to build my new studio, which I'm in now on higher ground. And I was looking at these panels there. I built all my panels. So wasn't just going to let them.

I've to use these, you know, they're four feet by five foot wooden panels that put a lot of effort into building them. They're monumental just as panels. And I'm looking at, I was looking at the work that I had started on them and I couldn't relate to it anymore because my head just wasn't in that same space after the flood and everything. wherever I was going with that, I just wasn't there anymore. And I kind of decided to activate the surfaces.

basically by deconstructing them. I took a palette knife and a couple of palette knives and I just started scraping away excess texture and then it started to reveal the layers of color. Like when you're a kid, I don't know if you ever melted a bunch of little...

lots of little colored crayon flakes in between wax paper, you know, and then you paint over that with black. ⁓ I mean, not paint over, you gotta draw over that with black crayon, and then you can scrape away the black crayon and reveal the colors underneath with your scrapes. And it really had that feeling to it when I was doing that. And it just, I started just having fun. And ⁓ even though the scrapes might look to some people as like violent or something like that, it's not really what it was. I was just...

having fun like a kid with those crans, with those scratching the black crayon off and, ⁓ revealing different layers of color and how that makes certain patterns. And then I stepped back and I looked at it and I'm like, this looks a lot like a piece of a ship that washed ashore. Like it had that eroded, eroded vibe to it. Like, like wood that had just deteriorated in saltwater left bits of paint here and there and texture from the barnacles and the

salts and all that stuff. And I was like, this is perfect. It just suddenly, it just hurt me. I don't, it's sometimes these things are hard to explain. sometimes that's where the best stuff happens. And I just.

dove into those resource materials that I'd taken and ⁓ I was removed from it enough that I was able to just appreciate the aesthetic of the resources without thinking about the specific time and place and looking at it more from a universal themes, timeless themes, that sort of thing and how would it apply to that? Because that's all the old masters did, you know, it's like they did a ⁓

a painting of Aesop. Well, that guy's not really Aesop. It's, you know, Velázquez's buddy who sat for him in the toga, you know, but it's still, but, you know, if people get so caught up in realism and that's not really, it's more about creating a space, you know, and, and,

I think by having that time of separation, allowed me to use the resource material in a way that I think is more powerful than if I'd done just a straightforward, like photorealistic painting of it or something, you know.

Shannon Grissom (14:03)
Well, and I also think that it's symbolically interesting how you rebuilt your studio on higher ground and then you were able to take your work from a different perspective all at the same time, if that makes sense. So you're seeing it from a higher perspective, a more universal perspective. The whole thing shifted.

from your original intent. I love how you just flowed with it and just kept expanding. I mean, that's super cool. Yeah. And I'm thinking about back to the, I'm still taken by the heroic modern masters because I just see the epicness in those two pieces. And then also,

Ethan Cranke (14:40)
Yeah.

Shannon Grissom (15:00)
the heroism in your whimsical pieces and talk to me about 100 % Kosher. There's gotta be a story there.

Ethan Cranke (15:13)
There is. ⁓ I think it's, I'm not a, I come from a very secular background, but at the same time I ⁓ come from, I guess what would be called an interfaith marriage in that ⁓ my mom was Jewish, is Jewish, well, born into a Jewish family. My father was born into, ⁓ think of what they were.

Shannon Grissom (15:15)
Ha ha!

Ethan Cranke (15:43)
kind of Presbyterian slash Lutheran. And he was born in Minnesota, a of Lutherans there, and then they moved out here. But he and my mom kind of got more into Zen Buddhism during their hippie days and whatnot, and all sorts of other forms of spirituality and whatnot. And so I was raised to have a very open perspective on those things. But I still have that...

ethnically Jewish side to me that because because her side of family was very big when I was a little kid, my my my grandmother had six brothers and sisters. So like we gather at her at my grandparents place and it'd be packed with all these, you know, the World War Two generation, but they're all kind of like hanging out with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. I mean, so there's definitely that side of Jewish humor side of me that looks

at the irony of things. so ⁓ although I'm not, like I said, I identify with the culture and not so much with the religion, but.

So I think in that painting, I'm trying to harness something that's in those religious paintings without the burden of the religion in a way, and to bring in some of that Mel Brooks humor in a way. And so I'm thinking about...

I honestly, I always call him Hercules just because I don't want to offend people. I don't ever say that it's who a lot of people assume it is. But at the same time, it's a play on that in that everything you see in there is technically 100 % kosher if you think of the history of that guy. And then also,

The pickle is a very American, the Jewish kosher pickle is kind of a very American part of our identity. know, it's, it's, think Seth Rogen made a really funny movie about the Jewish pickle industry. But, but, so the idea of him riding in on a pickle, surfing on a pickle, and in this kind of almost like a, almost like an ad for pickles in a way, you know, but it's, it's, it's more just a play on words. It's.

It's meant to be funny and ironic and silly and definitely not meant to offend anybody or anything like that. ⁓ It's meant to just be fun. And to use those elements that we're used to.

banging us over the head with something really heavy and serious and turning it into something just fun and whimsical and you know, Mel Brooks basically.

Shannon Grissom (18:49)
Love Mel Brooks. what's your typical, do you paint every day and what's your typical painting session like?

Ethan Cranke (18:58)
I paint every day. ⁓ At least I try to. There's things that come up. I have a lot of people that I care about that I do things for and whatnot. But I try to paint every day if I can, unless something gets in the way. And so I do a lot of practical things just to get my mind in that state to let go of anything outside of the studio that might get in the way of my thought process. So I'll start.

Just by making sure all my tools are sharp, I'll scrape my palette if it needs scraping. And I'll put on, I listen to a lot of jazz, a lot of DJ sessions. Lately I've been listening to lot of DJ sessions on YouTube because they'll be like two or three hours long. And it kind of forces me to be aware of the current sounds, you know, because I'm getting older.

It's good to kind of force myself to just kind of experience what the kids are listening to these days, you know, and ⁓ just to stay current and whatever. But I'll put on some music and I'll get my palette set up. That's a big part of it. I use a full spectrum, full chroma palette. But then on top of that, I'll try to think ahead as far as, ⁓ because I usually know what I'm going to paint that.

I usually know what painting I want to work on that day. I'll have multiple pieces going all at the same time. But I usually only work on one each day. I'll be in, ⁓ sometimes it's for practical reasons. I'll be letting a layer dry on another one or something like that. Or it's just, what I feel like working on. I know what I want to do with it. So I'll, I'll pre-mix some of my colors ahead of time. I'll try to think ahead as far as that way I can save time and I can be a little more efficient. So even though I have the full spectrum at the top,

that I can use for tinting, I try to premix a good amount of the colors that I'm going to use for the day, ⁓ whether it's abstract, flesh, or landscapes, still light. doesn't matter. try to, it just makes it easier. It also puts me in that state of ⁓ mind where I'm analyzing, breaking things down, you know, into their most basic colors.

So I'm already doing that on the palette before I even get in front of the painting, or I am in front of the painting, but I'm mainly looking at the palette. But then once I'm in front of the painting, I'm able to, it just helps me flow better, you know, to have some of those premixes ready to go.

Shannon Grissom (21:33)
Yeah, if you get the logical stuff done first, for me, feel like it then you get the nuts and bolts done first. Then when you actually go to paint, it's all in the intuitive mode. So it's like you get your business done and then whoosh and.

Ethan Cranke (21:53)
And you're less likely to ⁓ do something that might... Because you have created these colors that are part of the flow of the painting, you're less likely to do something randomly and then regret it.

Shannon Grissom (22:08)
Yes. ⁓ yes. I'm like, yes. Yeah, I get that. Yeah. Yeah.

Ethan Cranke (22:17)
So it's kind of like setting up the barrier, you know, like those, I get the bowling alley for kids, those things they put in the gutters so that they don't gutter ball. It's kind of like setting myself up for that. So I hit a strike every time, you know, kind of, in a way.

Shannon Grissom (22:32)
It's good way to do it. Okay, so if you could go back and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

Ethan Cranke (22:44)
⁓

worry about waiting your turn that's a big one I think I was a little caught up too caught up and ⁓

thinking that there was a hierarchy and that if you just stuck to it and waited your turn, that eventually you'd get in there or something. And that's just not how it works. And to make the, just go for it, make the paintings that keep you up at night. Don't, don't worry about taking risks. Just do it. And, ⁓ I think a really important one that, that, ⁓ has really helped me the last

ten years I'd say that really made an effort to do is to visualize. I'm a big believer in visualization. I mean, I think a lot of artists, I mean, we're visual thinkers, but I really try to visualize the space for that painting. So not just ⁓ on any wall, but like, I see it in a gallery? Do I see it in a museum? Do I see it in like a hotel lobby, at a home, in an office?

What kind of home? What kind of office? ⁓ You know, so like sometimes I'll be working on a painting and I'm thinking to myself, this would be perfect in like a chrome glass New York loft kind of thing, you know, or sometimes I'm thinking this would be perfect in a nice cozy cottage near where I live type of thing, you know, like the vacation rentals where people stay or anything like that to just visualize the space. ⁓

and how the painting as an object affects the space. So we get so caught up in expressing our true idiosyncrasies and all that. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I think as professionals, it's really important to take it that next step and think about how this piece is going to affect any random person that walks into the room that it's in. I think that adds that level of professionalism.

⁓ where it's where it's not, you know, it is a form of self expression, but you're also trying to create a moment for someone else. know what mean? ⁓

Shannon Grissom (25:08)
I love

that you have that connection part ⁓ thought out and that it's not just all about us. It's about the connection that we make with the work and that other side. So what are you working on now? Where are you going?

Ethan Cranke (25:27)
I have this whole series in mind that I want to do. It's more like using the figure as a formal structure for a painting to just create a feeling of motion, to just create a feeling, you know, that's, that doesn't get trapped. And a lot of the things that figure paintings get trapped into these days, as far as the male gaze and that kind of, I want to make

figure paintings that just celebrate the form on an abstract level, the same way a ship or a gesture affects, activates the surface, you know, and creates something dynamic that just arrests you, pulls you out of normal time and creates a space where you can just experience something in its pure form, you know. ⁓

Shannon Grissom (26:26)
I think it's in line with everything you do. All of your work pulls you out of normal time and into someplace special. So it's, it's just a different way of doing it. And you're, ⁓ by changing the concept of, ⁓ of the figure, I'm totally having a brain fart. ⁓ context. So I like, I like.

Ethan Cranke (26:48)
Perception.

Shannon Grissom (26:56)
doing abstraction simply by changing the context or by disassociation of the context. And so then that abstracts the work. I see that you're doing that there. so it is more about shapes and how things are flowing. So that's very cool. Do you have any shows coming up or are you just doing more serious studio work right now?

Ethan Cranke (27:26)
Right now I'm just doing the studio work. I don't have any shows coming up that I'm booked for. I'm gonna keep trying for some. I would like, I'm researching places. I feel like my Shipwreck series didn't get the.

⁓ Attention at dessert. I feel like there's something there that I think people can really experience and enjoy. I just need to get it out there. ⁓ it's easier to get the ⁓ pop religious icon paintings into shows, believe it or not. It's just, I think people like fun and whimsy a lot more. ⁓

I think some people see the shipwreck paintings as too heavy or moody or something, even though that's not what I'm going for exactly. I'm more, it's more technique or technical, the technical aspects of the surface. But I really want to put together a proposal for a solo show or a duo show for, there are a couple of spaces I have in mind. I hear there's this.

space in the San Francisco, they're converting, um, it's Pier 29. They're calling it the Pier 29 art space project. And I'm thinking that'd be a perfect place because it's, on the pier. It's on the docks. It's in, it's overlooking the Bay somewhere where I could, I'm thinking of putting a proposal together for them. Any other venue I can find, um, where I could show the shipwreck series in its total, in its totality, you know, um,

because they're kind of like, as you say, they're kind of epic paintings. And I feel like they deserve an epic space, know, like a big space that will because yeah, that Pier 29, that's a giant warehouse type, you you just use it for merchant ships and that kind of thing. So it really has that feeling of just epic size and ⁓ has all that history, maritime history. ⁓

somewhere like that. don't know if that's where I'm going to be able to get it anywhere that I can get the proposal into where they'll take me. But yeah, I think I'd like to put together a proposal for these. I think they deserve that. I'd like to give them where they can be seen, where the whole series can be seen together in one space.

You know, I think they hold their own on their own, but I think as a series, I think people will get it more. I think when people look at the individual paintings, they might see the moodiness or whatever that I keep getting as feedback. But I think when you see the whole thing, you realize this is actually kind of a technical feat that I'm going for, you know. It's, I ⁓ just, it's, go ahead, sorry.

Shannon Grissom (30:31)
was just thinking that when you see the whole series, you understand everything about it, as opposed to one individual piece, they are not isolated. They are all connected. So yeah, you'll get it. You'll get it. So how can people find you online? What's your website?

Ethan Cranke (30:45)
Exactly.

ethancranke.com, E-T-H-A-N-C-R-A-N-K-E, a lot of people leave off the E, yes, ethancranke.com. I'm also on Instagram, as well as Facebook. I'm thinking of getting back on TikTok. TikTok.

Shannon Grissom (31:17)
you

Ethan Cranke (31:19)
shows you how much I use it. ⁓

I used it while back and had some success. got so, you know, all of the, talking about shutting it down and all that. So I didn't know if I wanted to put much effort into a platform that might get shut down, but it seems like they're not gonna shut it down. So I feel like I should do more on there, ⁓ but I am active on Instagram and Facebook very much. ⁓

Shannon Grissom (31:46)
I'll

definitely put your links in the show notes so that people can find you. Thank you. You've been incredibly inspiring. Thank you for coming today.

Ethan Cranke (31:51)
Yeah.

Thank you.

I hope I did okay. Hope I made sense.

Shannon Grissom (31:59)
You did?

Ethan Cranke (32:02)
I really appreciate you having me. It's very kind of you to invite me. It's really nice to be able to share these things when there's so many rare opportunities to do so. And ⁓ mainly people just see the work and have no idea what's going on behind it. So I'm really grateful for this. I'm going to share it far and wide so people can hopefully get a better idea of what I'm doing.

Shannon Grissom (32:25)
Bye!

I really do. want people to hear the stories behind the artists and ⁓ there's just so much more than what you see. There's just so much going on. So I'm glad I'm able to help. Well, thanks everybody for tuning in again. Please be sure to like, subscribe and share so that I can make more of these. Thank you, Ethan. We will see you next time. That's a wrap.