WHO WE ARE
David Joseph Babulski was born in 1944 and grew up in the small foothill community of Sunland/Tujunga in Southern California. From a very early age he was intensely curious about the natural world and loved to draw. The San Gabriel Mountains and their foothills was his playground. While still very young he had the good fortune to live next door to a serious mineral collector. At the age of ten he was introduced to mineral collecting and the science of mineralogy. Fortune smiled on him again at age fourteen. A neighbor who was a retired art teacher introduced him to watercolor. All through his high school years he dreamed of a way to combine his interest in science and art. During a high school career seminar a professional artist shared his experience as a scientific illustrator, providing the inspiration for a goal to combine art and science.
After graduation from high school David enrolled at what was then San Fernando Valley State College in Northridge, California as an art major/science minor. After two years, however, world events intruded and, rather than risk being drafted he left school and joined the U.S. Navy. After basic training he was assigned to Class "A" Radar School where he learned the basic electronics knowledge that would serve him well later in life. While at sea he enrolled in art correspondence courses to keep his hand in art. After release from active duty, he married his high school sweetheart and went back to college on the G.I. Bill. At the time, job prospects for professional artists were rather bleak, so he majored in his other passion, graduating in 1973 with a BA degree in Earth Science. He would have preferred to teach high school Earth Science, but the national economy was in a recession and jobs were scarce, particularly for new college graduates. So he enrolled at night school and went to work for the 3M Company servicing electronic office equipment. For the next 20 years he put art aside to raise a family. He became a professional educator in industry, obtaining both a Masters Degree and Doctoral Degree in science education.
After his children were all college-educated and on their own, he returned to mineral collecting and developed a special interest in microminerals and mineral micromounting. Over time he began to sketch what he saw through the microscope, and eventually graduated to watercolor, which proved to be an excellent medium for capturing the vibrant rich colors in the mineral world. He borrowed and purchased every book he could find on watercolor and taught himself more about the technique. He also invented a gimbaled mechanical microscope stage to allow accurate positioning of micromineral specimens. David works on acid-free watercolor board and watercolor paper with watercolor paints, acrylic gouache and Prismacolor colored pencils. Specimens for his paintings come from his own collection of mineral micromounts. Photomicrographs of the specimen are taken with an ERdmund Scientific Trinocular microscope and a Nikon N70 35mm SLR camera. These photomicrographs are used as refernce when executing the painting. Initial sketches of the specimen are made with a Camera Lucida attached to a Motic K400 stereo microscope. This initial sketch is then enlarged and refined freehand by referencing the microscope and photomicrographs of the micromineral specimen. Most of his paintings are executed on a black background, as that is the way the specimen appears in the microscope. He strives for scientific illustration accuracy in form and color with just a bit of artistic license. Each original painting is framed, and is accompanied by the actual micromineral specimen from which the painting was created, mounted in the frame. limited edition Giclee’ reproduction prints of selected paintings are available. Several of his mineral paintings reside in private collections. He has had major exhibitions of his work at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh (2003), the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville (2004), and the Weinman Mineral Museum in Cartersville, Georgia (2005). David currently lives in Snellville, Georgia with his wife Karen.
To contact us by mail:
Dr. David Babulski
Crystal Pocket Studios
P.O. Box 951
Snellville, Georgia 30078
Crystal Pocket Studios
P.O. Box 951
Snellville, Georgia 30078
To contact us via e-mail:
About
Crystal Pocket Studios
