David Hoobler is a native San Francisco Bay Area artist presently living and working in Hayward, California. Mr. Hoobler has been active in the arts all his life.

"When I was a child growing up in Concord, I was fascinated with a painting that hung in our dining room done by a great, great aunt. The painting had been exhibited in the Pan Pacific Expo in the Marina in 1915. This picture and my grandmother's many tales of the women painters in our family seemed to me, as a child, an entire world of mystery and magic."

"My grandmother survived the 1906 earthquake, was a flapper girl in the twenties and was a great story teller in the Irish tradition, as were a number of my relatives. These influences, art and Irish storytelling, have steered the direction of and my interest in the arts."

Mr. Hoobler graduated from Sonoma State College with a BA. in Art Studio. He did his graduate work in the Theatre Direction Program at San Francisco State.

"I've worked in most artistic forms from music to screen writing and sculpture. For a while I worked in theatre: first stage managing and assisting directing and then some directing and acting.

"Throughout my various pursuits, I have maintained a certain level of drawing discipline. I think I am like the vast majority of artists, writers and musicians who work at many vocations, earning a living and creating art as time allows.

"In 1990 I moved to Arizona for a writing job at a hospital in Tucson and acted as coordinator for creativity retreats in Mexico and the desert. While traveling and living in the deserts of  Arizona and  Mexico, Zonk the dreaming tortoise was  created.  The Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona and Northern Mexico is a magical place: intense, hostile; and beautiful.  This is where the original images and the first story about Zonk’s adventures were born.  

"I was not immediately successful finding a publisher and the project languished. My mom loved the art so I had some of the paintings framed and sent to her. When she passed away a few years ago, I decided to sit down and finish the book. If my mom hadn't thought so highly of the art, I might have abandoned the project all together. "

"I hung all the art from the book in a neighborhood cafe/gallery and the orders started pouring in. I had so many people asking for the book, I decided to print it myself, paying for most the cost out of art sales."

"My paintings are still the driving force behind my work and I have regular shows and sales of my paintings and prints.