Polina Demeneva drawings and painting have an influence from the great academic tradition of figurative painting. The drawings of the figure come from that influence of the Charles Bargue (1826-1883) the French painter and lithographer noted for devising an influential drawing course. Her drawings are like that of Caravaggio (1571-1610, or Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), with the use of sculpted counter-cross hatching. Like these great masters she utilizes the technique of chiaroscuro, technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow to define three-dimensional objects. Also known as tenebrismo, or Caravaggio and his followers used this dramatic light to isolate their figures and heighten their emotional tension. Another outstanding master of chiaroscuro was Rembrandt. Polina utilizes these two approaches to drawings with great effect. They are similar in quality to Italian master Pietro Annigoni,(1910 – 1988). Some of the drawings look also similar
Stanley Spencer(1891 - 1959), to the sculptural quality of the interpretation of the three dimensional form that is essential to all figurative painting.
When Polina combines these three approaches, counter cross hatching, chiaroscuro and the sculptural; the results are enchanting, and atmospheric. Her drawing studies of children have a Madonna Renaissance quality about them ; that could easily hang in Uffizi gallery in Florence, beside the great masters. Polina Demeneva is an artist of great promise if she follows these techniques, and this great tradition of painting.

Her paintings and sketches concentrate on two areas: the human figure (head, torso, limbs; men and women, young and old), and interiors, sometimes disorganized. Some of her faces are tortured and anguished, the muscles are often taut, but in other cases (as in two small boys reading) the mood is calm and tender. Her work is normally monochrome, sometimes no more than a sketch with strong, harsh lines, but she also uses colour to striking effect.