While I was at college studying design I decided to paint. I was

In the voice of one who has walked through color and creation, John Dyer, painter of light and nature, once said: “While I was at college studying design I decided to paint. I was also greatly inspired by the colours that I had seen on my travels in the Brazilian Rain forest.” These words, though gentle in tone, hold within them a revelation — the story of a soul awakening to its purpose. It is a tale as old as art itself: how inspiration strikes not in the classroom, but in the living world; how the heart, once touched by beauty, abandons structure to follow wonder. In Dyer’s remembrance, we see the eternal marriage between discipline and discovery, between learning and living, between design and the untamed spirit of creation.

Dyer’s words reveal the transformation that comes when knowledge meets experience. In the halls of design, he learned form, proportion, and the geometry of beauty — the language of order. But it was in the wild pulse of the Brazilian Rainforest that he found life’s color — the language of emotion. The greens that shimmered like emerald glass, the reds that blazed like living fire, the blues that whispered of distance and dream — these became not lessons, but visions. Thus, when he says, “I decided to paint,” it is not the decision of the mind, but of the soul. It is the moment when the artist ceases to merely design the world, and begins to translate it.

The origin of this quote lies in Dyer’s own journey as an artist. Born in Cornwall, he was surrounded by the rhythms of the sea, the cliffs, and the changing skies — a world already painted by nature’s own hand. Yet, it was his travels to the rainforest of Brazil that ignited his palette with new intensity. In that living cathedral of color, he witnessed creation in its purest form — not designed by man, but by the divine brush of life itself. His art thereafter became a hymn to nature’s abundance, filled with bold hues and joyous forms. Each painting carried the memory of that sacred wilderness, and through it, Dyer reminded humanity that art is not imitation, but celebration.

This journey — from the structured to the spontaneous, from discipline to inspiration — has been walked by many before him. The great Paul Gauguin, too, left behind the civilization of Paris to seek truth in the untamed colors of Tahiti. There, far from the academies, he found a new world of expression — raw, vibrant, and alive with meaning. Like Dyer, Gaugin’s heart was set aflame by the colours of nature, by the realization that art is not created in isolation but drawn from the deep well of experience. Both men, in their different eras, remind us that to truly create, one must not merely study the form of beauty but live within it.

The rainforest that inspired Dyer is more than a place; it is a symbol of the creative spirit itself — wild, fertile, abundant. Every leaf and creature there is a lesson in diversity and design, every ray of sunlight a reminder that beauty thrives in balance. From such a world, an artist learns humility: that to paint is not to command the world, but to participate in its rhythm. Dyer’s decision to paint, born in that sacred wilderness, teaches us that the highest education comes not from books alone, but from immersion in the living world.

His story also teaches us the importance of listening to the call within. How many remain in the safety of their studies, afraid to follow the whisper that calls them elsewhere? Dyer could have remained a designer, crafting controlled patterns upon paper. Instead, he followed the song of the rainforest, trading certainty for passion. In that act of courage, he became not only an artist, but a witness to life’s grandeur. His example reminds us that growth demands transformation — that one must dare to step beyond instruction and enter the wilderness of one’s own heart.

So, O seeker of truth and beauty, take this lesson to heart: your education, though noble, is but the foundation of your calling. To live fully, you must go beyond the classroom — into the world, into color, into life. Let yourself be moved by what you see; let experience guide your hand and heart. Whether you paint, write, build, or dream, let your work be born not from imitation, but from inspiration. For the greatest art — the art that endures — is that which carries the heartbeat of the world within it.

Thus, from the words of John Dyer, let us remember: design gives us form, but experience gives us soul. The colours of the rainforest still sing in his art, as they can in ours — if we, too, learn to open our eyes. Walk into the world. See its colors. Feel its rhythm. Then return, not as a student of beauty, but as its vessel — painting, building, living, and loving with the fullness of your awakened heart.