More Plein Air (sort of) on an old iPad

My favorite drawing app on the iPad is OmniSketch. It’s ten years old now and hasn’t been updated to 64 bit architecture. That means that it doesn’t run well on newer OS systems. My old iPad 2 died recently and I lost of OmniSketch drawings when it went. Happily, I was able to get another iPad 2 cheaply. I downloaded the app and paired it with a new stylus that I really like. (Note that the old tablets don’t work with the Apple Pencil.)

I decided to try it out at the Marais Temp Clair Conservation Area in St. Charles County, MO, around 40 minutes from home. It’s a series of man-made lakes and pools and a great place for birds. I took a few pics and after heading home, used them as inspiration for my drawings. (I know, plein air means doing the work on site, but it was cold. I have done that, but this is a more comfortable way to go.)

Note that you can’t import photos in OmniSketch and there are no layers. I think the reason it’s not more popular is it can seem like a toy at first glance. It’s actually very powerful and can do things that even Procreate can’t. It has a ton of blending modes and as you try different one with different pens, happy accidents can happen.

Here are the pics:

Maraisday 1

Maraisday 2