A popular Weehawken restaurant is attracting a different kind of dinner crowd. Paula at Rigoletto Ristorante, the upscale Italian restaurant on Park Avenue and Highwood Terrace, opened in 2003, but more recently began hosting art exhibits on their dining room walls. Weehawken resident and watercolor painter Karen Turok exhibits her work “Works in Watercolor,” at the restaurant through Jan. 3.
“I was invited to do the show through a friend,” Turok said, “and just jumped at the opportunity.”
“Every pigment has its own qualities.” – Karen Turok
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“This exhibit mainly focuses on still life and flowers with different objects in the background,” she said. A former production editor for Business Week Magazine, Turok has painted “on and off” for most of her life.
“There is a lot to do and a lot to learn – a lot of trial and error,” she said. “Since putting this whole thing together, I’ve gotten more and more excited to be able to spend time painting.”
Born and raised in Jersey City, the artist mainly uses watercolor because of its simplicity and spontaneity.
“Watercolors are so unpredictable,” Turok said, “which can lead to something really beautiful or a huge mess. There’s a fine, fine line between what you control with watercolor and what you let be spontaneous, and the balance between them can create an interesting result.”
Simple and effective
Although Turok has no formal art education, she spent years studying her craft at the Art Students League in New York and the New School.
“Every pigment has its own qualities,” Turok said. “Art is all about trial and error – painting, painting, and painting.”
Turok said that her background in production has really helped her career as an artist.
“Hanging around really great art directors, and working with them, really taught me a lot about art,” Turok said. “Being able to watch them design and having access to the software applications was a huge help.”
An NYU English major, Turok never left Manhattan after graduation, which guided her into becoming a watercolor artist.
“I was living in a small studio at the time,” Turok said, “and couldn’t possibly see myself setting up an easel and canvases and turpentine. So, I tried watercolor.”
After studying under the well-known artist David Dewey at the National Academy of Art, Turok fell in love with the medium.
“I’m kind of a David Dewey groupie,” she said. “Watercolor is just so beautiful. You can clear off your dining room table and paint away. You just need water, no rags.”
The small city feel
Turok moved to the township in 1996 with her soon-to-be husband, after the costs of living in New York City became too expensive.
“I had lived in the city for 25 years and was ready for some space and less insanity,” she said. “I had to learn to drive all over again.”
Now, the painter is beginning to work from home, focusing on creating artwork through desktop design software.
“I love being in Weehawken. It’s such a cute town, and something I’m so familiar with, being from New Jersey. I have a terrace, and a pretty big container garden. I feel like I’m in an English garden when it’s in bloom.”
Sean Allocca can be reached at editorial@hudsonreporter.com