Is art a true gift or is it something that clicks with a person after working at if for many years? Davis resident Andre Janitzky is a painter who has a lot to say about the ways of an artist.

He is casually dressed in a green and white Hawaiian shirt and AC/DC sandals, holding a cocktail. After he briefly shows his renovated garage, which has been turned into a sort of studio, Andre begins to discuss his opinions about becoming an artist. On the one hand, being an artist isn’t really a choice: “It kind of decides for you. You just wake up and decide, that’s what I’m going to do.” Turning your passion into a career, on the other hand, requires more than just raw talent: “You have to have a business mind,” Andre says.

In his own career, Andre’s art forms have been constantly developing and changing to combine what he considers a “very selfish and adolescent passion” with the need to earn a living. Luckily, he has had a few friends along the way who have helped him out greatly. One of them is Noni Storm, who Andre says took him under her wing. She built him a studio where he could work, and when finished, she took it upon herself to sell his paintings.