In my third year of medical school I started to feel increasingly depressed. I was living in the UK for my clinical rotations and staying in a hospital flat at the time. I soon realized my ill mood was due to the fact that I hadn't done any artwork in over 2 years!
I woke up one Saturday morning with that revelation .... also with the instant desire to put a mural on my wall. Actually, "desire" is a weak word - I "knew" I had to do it - even though it wasn't my property ... and deal with the consequences later.
I got dressed and didn't even eat or shower before I took the bus to town and found an art supply store. I just bought the softest charcoal I could find and returned to the flat. For the entire weekend I started charcoaling the walls with almost no breaks. I was applying the charcoal with my bare hands and fingertips - working with the texture of the wall to mimic the grain of a black & white photograph. After a few days I lost my fingerprints and had to wait for them to grow back because it affected the charcoal application.
I finished my first one that weekend ... but soon I found myself doing more and more in the days to come - like some grand catharsis.
When my clinical rotation was done I informed the hospital of my "vandalism" to the flats and offered to paint over it or pay for the damages .... but they let it go after they saw it.
My next rotations were in New York and Connecticut at the hospital owned apartments I did the same ... I think the one in New York is still there.
the face in this last one is reproduced from a Man Ray photo I liked