Layered Impasto Technique
Anna Salenko’s work is instantly recognizable.
From a distance, her paintings look like landscapes. Come closer, and the surface tells a different story: thick, sculptural layers that catch the light, cast shadows and change as you move around them.
The texture is so pronounced that you want to touch it - something a photograph can never quite convey.
This comes from Anna’s signature layered impasto technique, developed through years of working with the palette knife.
The technique has its own kind of freedom - it bends the rules, leaves space for spontaneity, and has the same slightly rebellious spirit as Anna herself.
Unlike a brush, the palette knife creates a freer, more physical stroke. A single movement can carry several colours, blending them into a soft gradient that a brush cannot achieve in the same way. No two strokes are ever alike, and the exact result can never be predicted.
There is a certain simplicity to the way the finished painting looks. But making it look this effortless is anything but simple - and that is where the mastery lies.
It all started in 2010.
For the first few years, Anna spent 10–14 hours a day in the studio, rarely satisfied with what she saw on the canvas. She would paint, study the result, and start again, always looking for the point where the technique finally matched what she had in mind. That dissatisfaction became her fuel, while painting also gave her a way to work through things she couldn’t put into words.
Over time, she learned to read the paint through the knife - its pressure, movement, texture and colour.
Years of discipline have given Anna something that cannot be reduced to a technique: complete confidence in the material, and the freedom to let each painting become its own.
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