Dust is ephemeral by nature, therefore creating paintings out of it is not only artistic but also poetic. Specially when Allison Cortson, a Los Angeles based artist creates her dust paintings from dust collected from her subjects' living space.

"I was interested in the fact that matter is mostly empty space and is held together by an observer experiencing it. This concept contradicts our everyday experiences with the world. I wanted to make a model for this concept with my artwork." shares the artist.

She spends months collecting dust from her subjects' home using a vacuum cleaner, she then paints the portraits of her subjects from oil paint; which conveys the reality of her subject. And then she creates the background of that painting from the dust that she'd previously collected. She sprinkles the dust and then using a brush she creates the surreal background. Once the painting is finished, she coats the dust with an acrylic sealer. Check out her unique work of art below: