Marilyn Orner
The Deployment Project
These small works were daily paintings made from observation and an occasional photographic reference over the 332 day period when my son was deployed overseas with the Army National Guard. It was a commitment that acknowledged his own, and that carved out a moment of time each day for remembering.
My rules were that each painting had to be made in one sitting, without going back later. They were done in oils, except for times I was away from my studio, when I used watercolors. Each is numbered on the back with the number of days since he left home, the number of months he had been gone, the number of days gone that month, and the number of days towards the 270 day deployment.
These works are a narrative of what was in my sight, and a diary of an attempt at an uninterrupted connection to my son.
The following is a selection of those works.