Eric Karns

I have so many memories of my grandfather Karns. Many of which had a central theme of believing in myself. Among the memories was the time my grandfather attended my baseball game when I was around 7 years old. It was the first year out of t-ball, with real pitching. I always wanted to pitch and my grandpa convinced my coach to give me the opportunity. He then took me aside and told me I was going to pitch a no hitter. I pitched every inning and struck every kid out without one hit.

Another memory from when I was around the same age, was when I was visiting my grandparents at their home on Elmhurst Street. My grandpa asked me to draw a picture of a ‘puffed wheat’, as in, the cereal. I misunderstood him and drew what I thought he asked for. It was a California Raisin looking character, with a round body, big buggy eyes and stick legs which I titled ‘Puff Tweat.’ My grandpa laughed hysterically at the misunderstanding but reassured me that my creativity was second to none. It was probably one of the first pieces of art that I ever had hung up in an art gallery - his art gallery, the refrigerator. Somehow I knew it was the beginning of my life as an artist. He told me I could sell my art someday, and guess what? To this day, I am a professional commercial artist in large part due to his confidence building.