HOWARD PARK - A WORLD OF ART, ADVENTURE & RESTORATION
  by Sara Drought Nebel

Traveling the world was part of Howard Park’s childhood. He grew up in many different places with his multilingual father, who was a Marine Corps Colonel. Howard is bilingual. He was always drawing, and curious about everything. He liked to fix things and make things. He loved the ocean. His mother liked boats too.

He graduated from Tufts University after studying in France in 1968 and went straight to San Francisco, California to try to land a job. He decided to go into the Merchant Marines in 1969, and spent time in the Philippines, sailing supplies from Cameron Bay to SouthVietnam. He was in the Merchant Marines for 18 months.

When he returned to the US and landed in Chesapeake he honed his craft in restoration working as a contractor restoring historic houses. He had a small 27 foot fiberglass boat, and one day, while at White Haul Creek Harbor, he saw a dilapidated 52 foot sailboat languishing at the dock. She had no working engine, was leaking and needed an overhaul. He tracked down the owner, and offered to trade him his boat for the sailboat.
The owner agreed to the trade.

Howard built a boathouse and moved Comet, his 1946 Sparkman & Stephens 52’ yawl, into it to begin its complete restoration. He worked on the boat nights and weekends after work. It took 3 years.
In 1994 Howard sailed Comet for 5 days to Stonington, Connecticut, where he would stay. He continued his work in the restoration of historic houses, using old methods and tools. He restored paintings too. Then he settled down, got married, had kids and raised his family. Art was always a part of his life.

“The kids moved out, and the dog died so it was time to sail around the world!” Howard said with a smile.

He and his wife Rita set sail for Bermuda and the Caribbean Islands in November of 1997 for the circumnavigation. When winter came they stayed in warm waters before heading to the Panama Canal in March. There he met fellow Connecticut artist and sailor Brechin Morgan, who was solo-navigating the world at the same time! They became fast friends and arranged to meet up again in New Zealand.

Constantly sailing west, they passed Australia and saw the Great Barrier Reef. Then when they were near the Galapagos Islands, a giant basking shark knocked into the bottom of the boat! When Howard was diving to check for damage (fortunately there was none), a curious seal touched nose-to-mask with him. “Galapagos is an amazing place! So much diversity in wildlife there…”

From Galapagos to the French Polynesian Islands, where they were the farthest from land than at any time on the whole trip. He said that the Polynesian Islands were where he met the friendliest people.

They were in New Zealand for Christmas, during their summer climate, and celebrated the New Year of 2000.

All the while circumnavigating the globe, Howard was painting and drawing the scenes he was seeing. Using pencil, pen & ink and watercolors, he documented his adventure. Rita sailed with him for about 15,000 miles - about half of the 31,000 mile trip.
She went home to greet a new grandchild for them.

When he returned to the US in the summer of 2001, he had a show of 84 of his paintings at the Yacht Club and Stonington Vineyards. He sold 83. He had a show at Mystic Seaport and also taught gifted kids at the Christian Academy in North Stonington.

Today Howard Park is still living in Stonington. He has a big body of work and spends his time painting and teaching. He teaches his own classes in plein air, painting and drawing, “Oil & Water” classes with his partner, watercolorist Lisa Miceli at Mystic Museum and at Lyme Art Association. He is still restoring paintings too.

“I really love to teach classes,” said Howard, “when I am teaching, I get to go back and discover all that I love about art, over and over again….” His students love him. His sense of humor, knowledge about art, sensitivity and passion are the highlights of his teaching.

Comet was purchased by an Englishman who restored her further and she now resides happily in Scandinavia.

The adventure continues!

See more artwork at his website - HowardParkArt.com see classes at lymeartassociation.org and Mystic Museum. Email him at - tootsweet46@yahoo.com with any questions about classes, workshops and inquiries about buying paintings.