Clara turned three on Tuesday, and we’ve spent the last few days marveling at this wonderful little person and wondering where the time went.
As we’ve done for her previous birthdays, we marked the end of another year by creating a custom fabric backdrop for her annual photo. This tradition began on her first birthday, when we used my handwriting to make a repeating pattern and then printed it on fabric using a print-on-demand fabric service. The following year we turned one of Clara’s own scribbles into fabric, and both efforts became a colorful, personal backdrop for her portraits.
This year we wanted the fabric to be bolder and more playful, and we also wanted Clara to be the artist. Instead of digitizing a drawing, we let her paint directly on the cotton yardage so her personality would be obvious and the colors would be vivid.
Because we expected a mess, we moved the project to our new house where there are plenty of large, non-precious spaces like the deck. We taped down a drop cloth and then secured the two yards of cotton fabric in the middle so it wouldn’t shift while she worked.
For paints we used small pots of washable, non-toxic kids’ paint — the kind Clara already knows and likes. We considered fabric paints so the piece could be preserved more permanently, but the washable kids’ paints let her go wild without worrying about permanence, which suited this free-form session perfectly.
Clara chose pink first and poured it straight from the bottle, then spread it with a foam brush. She layered colors, added big swoops and splatters, and even pressed her hands and feet into the wet paint. Those little handprints and footprints are our favorite parts of the whole piece.
It took about thirty minutes for her to cover the full length of fabric with lively, imperfect splotches. As the painting wrapped up we had a spontaneous idea: since we usually Photoshop a circle with her age onto her shirt for the annual shot, why not let her paint her shirt and wear it for the photo? With paint still wet and Clara still gleefully messy, we carried the whole drop cloth over to the side of the house and taped the painted fabric up to create an instant backdrop.
Light was fading quickly and Clara’s patience was finite, but we managed to catch a perfect moment as she jumped. Jumping is basically her default motion these days, so the image felt genuine and energetic. We added the number to her shirt digitally afterwards, keeping the photo natural while giving it the birthday detail we love.
We also captured a collection of funny outtakes — the candid expressions and goofy poses that make these sessions so memorable. One of our favorites is what Sherry affectionately calls Clara’s “Stomp The Yard” pose.
With this birthday photo, we’re wrapping up the monthly pictures project. It’s been an amazing routine, but Clara is starting to outgrow the process; it’s becoming harder to convince her that a photo session is more exciting than whatever else she’d rather be doing. Rather than forcing the issue, we’ll let this be a natural stopping point while keeping the option open to design a new fabric each birthday — and maybe for a half-birthday if she’s game.
The gallery we put together includes 25 milestone pictures taken between ages one and three, plus the 52 weekly photos from her first year. Seeing them all together reminds us how quickly she’s changed and how each small portrait tells a part of her story.
One sweet tradition worth mentioning: Clara has spent every birthday with three of her grandparents. Looking back through those photos, a charming detail pops up again and again — each adult often re-wears the same shirt in multiple pictures, which creates a subtle continuity through the years.
Are you making your own fabric, wrapping up a photo project, or letting a little one explore paint? We’d love to hear how others capture and celebrate these early years. Happy weekend to everyone from our colorful, paint-covered corner of the world.