John M. Morgan, MD, claims picking up a paintbrush was a late blossoming thought. “I could do artistic things,” says the Brookwood Medical Center obstetrician-gynecologist. But painting on canvas never occurred to him until his daughter Jayne began her artistic career. After training in Savannah, Georgia and in France, the oldest of Morgan’s three children is now a full-time Birmingham artist with Artists on the Bluff.

“She kind of helps me, the fledgling artist,” Morgan says. He is in his daughter’s studio for a lesson every Thursday evening. He points out his artistic skills “are more second-fiddle to my daughter’s” although he did enjoy training with Linda Vance, a Birmingham-area artist.

Morgan earned his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1986, followed by a residency at Carraway Methodist Medical Center. He became a certified diplomat of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians in 1997, and is the owner and founder of the Bariatric Health & Wellness program. He is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a pioneer in robotic gynecological procedures at Brookwood, where he began practicing in 1990.

A Birmingham native, he lived in Hoover but went to school in Ensley. “I was good at sports and Ensley just had a better sports team,” he says. He entered medicine because he wanted a challenge and “everybody in my family is a dentist or a doctor.”

Ob-Gyn was a nice fit for Morgan. “I was comfortable with women,” he says. “Women take care of themselves whereas men don’t. I love watching the babies I delivered grow up. Now I’ve even delivered some of their kids.” In his 25-year career, he guesstimates he’s helped bring between 7,000 to 8,000 infants into the world.

But long before beginning his medical career, Morgan showed signs of his artistic creativity. As a teenager, he made balsa wood replicas of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home, and of the White House, which won state awards. He also helped build a life-size dwelling. His father built the exterior of the Morgan’s home, but “I built my own bedroom at age 16,” Morgan says.

In addition to Jayne, he and Missy, his wife of 30 years, are also parents to Pauli, a summa cum laude graduate in management information systems from the University of Alabama, and Jack, a Berry College freshman.

“When the kids were younger, part of the basement had a wooden floor so I painted a little trail with a pond and an alligator on it. The kids would ride their tricycles down there,” he says. “I built myself a little cubbyhole art studio in the corner.”

He finds the past-time relaxing. “This is kind of a late-life escape,” he says. “This is what I like to do to get away—pick up a paintbrush.” His subject might be of an architectural drawing, an exotic floral still life, or a Venice canal scene, mostly done in acrylics but occasionally in oil. In his office, art from his daughter mingles with his own works of a Toucan bird, a palm tree, and crabs.

He considers his artistic pursuit strictly a hobby. “Calling myself an artist would be analogous to referring to someone who plays putt-putt golf to a professional golfer,” he says. “But I would recommend anyone with a hectic lifestyle to escape to a canvas full of clouds, open fields, or far-away destinations.”

Although he attends art shows throughout the southeast, he is there to help his daughter promote her art, not to promote his own work. At these events, life often imitates art for the doctor-by-day, artist-by-night. “A lot of my patients will come by,” he says. “I enjoy that.”