In the early 90's, I was walking the galleries of Metropolitan Museum of Art when I accidentally stumbled upon charcoal drawings from the Impressionists. One in particular, I believe it was a Seurat, was of a view down a dark unlit hall where the only light was from an opened doorway about halfway where a figure stood (I think it was a woman) lit by the strong light from the adjacent room. It completely knocked me out.
I came home to my duplex that I shared with my married couple friends. She was a graphic artist and had a Michelangelo calendar of some of his drawings. I borrowed it and immediately copied two drawings before I threw it away and declared, like all egotistical artists do, that I was ready!
I was, but very much at the beginning of what remains today a lifelong medium, my main medium, that is charcoal. Painting would come later, but charcoal had captivated me, probably tethered to my enduring love of black and white photography.