Drawing: The Keys to Confidence in Your Art
Drawing in pencil, conte, charcoal, plus more
All Levels
Dates: June 8-12, 2026 (5 days)
Cost:$495+50
David Barranti has been a fixture at Cloudcroft Art Workshops for many years – and for good reason! There is nothing quite like a David Barranti drawing class. If you want to learn how to experience a sense of peace, calm, and mental clarity when starting to draw on an intimidating blank piece of paper – then this workshop is for you! If you have experience drawing but want to take that next step in your ability, David’s unique teaching approach, insights, and ideas could be just what you need.
Confidence to express yourself with artworks comes from developing your skills in drawing. David’s workshop is about learning to see the world more clearly and move your hand more accurately. You will learn the fundamentals or review the level that you have already attained. From that starting point, the workshop will embark on a journey through five genres. Whether your joy is landscape, still life, animals, figures or portraits, you will have the chance to explore them all.
All materials used in the classes are provided for you. David asks you to bring your enthusiasm and questions. During the week you will work in pencil, pen, charcoal, and conte with some surprises along the way. You will work in the studio and on location.
To quote David: “Gathering with others who are at different levels than you is one of the most important things artists can do for themselves. That doesn’t come from me: it came from Leonardo Da Vinci!”
Come join David in this beautiful, relaxed mountain setting and get your inner Leonardo on!
Supplies: David brings all the required supplies for this class.
About the Instructor: David’s experience and expertise spans decades and he is always involved in a variety of projects. For example, after winning an Emmy for his Public Broadcasting Atlanta documentary drawings in 2018, he has devoted significant painting time to his plein air National Park series. Currently, he has visited thirty-nine national parks while creating almost three hundred works of art. David has been interviewed twice by the National Park Service for programs concerning what it means to him to create art on location in these epic landscapes.
David is always drawing and/or painting something. Last year he took his pencils and paints to the Grand Canyon and then to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Ten glorious days at the Grand Canyon then a week in Colorado recording what it feels like to draw and splash color a few feet from a thousand-foot vertical drop to the Gunnison River. Why does knowing how to draw matter to us? Just after leaving Black Canyon, storms ignited fires there and on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. David’s heartfelt paintings from these two parks are some of the final artworks of those areas in pristine condition. It will take many years to replace the Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim and the lost structures in both parks. It will take decades for the flora and fauna to recover.
From his home in Atlanta and his art studio in the mountains near Blue Ridge, Georgia, David recently completed a portrait commission for Steinway Piano Galleries where he has been the artist in residence for fourteen years. David can often be found painting portraits of the incredible musicians who attain recognition as a “Steinway Artist.”
Currently David’s work can be seen at Colony Square 300 Gallery as part of the invitational Member of Excellence exhibition sponsored by the Atlanta Artists Center.
06/08/2026 – 06/12/2026