David was born in San Bernardino, California on September 23, 1944. Early on he developed a fascination with nature and art. At age 10, a next door neighbor who was a serious mineral collector introduced David to the wonderful world of minerals and mineral collecting. All through high school David spent every spare moment collecting minerals and drawing the world he saw around him. In addition to mineralogy, he also developed an intense interest in science and in particular the discipline of electronics. It was in high school that he decided to combine his interest in science with his interest in art and pursue the field of scientific illustration. However, world events would soon intervene and profoundly change the course of his life.

The Vietnam War saw David putting his college career on hold while he enlisted in the U.S. Navy to serve his country as a specialist in electronics and radar. While in the Navy, he completed several correspondence courses in art, just to keep the skill levels in tune. It was while in the military that he developed a serious interest in teaching. After serving six years in the military, he was honorably discharged and re-entered civilian life. David married his high school sweetheart Karen and went to work as an electronics technician using the electronics training from the U.S. Navy. After a few years he re-entered college under the GI Bill and in three years graduated with a BA degree in earth science education. The company he was working for at the time offered him a job as a technical instructor. David accepted the offer and has been a technical instructor and an instructional developer in industry for the last 27 years. During this period he earned the Masters Degree in Education and a Doctoral Degree in Science Education. After he and his wife raised three beautiful successful children and saw them through college, David decided to entertain the mineral and artistic muse again.

David in his studio again instead of out playing with the other kids	Photograph: T.D.Babulski 2002

He joined the Georgia Mineral Society and founded the Mineral Micro-Mount Section in the society. David is an active micro mineral collector with over 2000 cataloged specimens in his collection. After some years of experimenting he developed his own instrumentation combined with a Motic K400 stereo microscope fitted with a camera lucida. With this optical arrangement he is able to draw micro mineral specimens from the microscope. After the initial sketch is enlarged and re-drawn for accuracy by cross checking with the microscope image; a combination of transparent and opaque watercolor with a little colored pencil is used to render the micro mineral image in color. The goal in each micro mineral painting is to accurately portray how the mineral specimen appears in the microscope with just a touch of artistic interpretation. In addition to his full-time teaching duties in industry, David is busy with creating paintings of specimens from his own collection and with commissioned micro mineral paintings. Currently He lives with his wife Karen and his canine companion Mystery the wonder dog in Snellville, Georgia.

His paintings and limited edition color laser prints are displayed at selected mineral sows in the south eastern United States. David will have a one man show of his micro mineral paintings at the North Carolina Museum of Natural History in June through July of 2003.