Hey @dh, I know this is an old post, but I'm building an iPad app that should be what you're looking for: a simple, infinite canvas, sketching app, built for UX designers. If you'd like to try it out, sign up for the private beta at IdeateApp.com

Up now :)

Ah you're correct I misspoke. I should have said a plain container view for the text view.

That looks sharp. A simpler approach might be to apply the gradient layer to the top of your text view so you don't have to deal with creating and cropping a new image view.