Columbia County school bus driver Jack Roy spends about five hours a day driving his routes for Stevens Creek Elementary and Lakeside High schools.

He said he serves "good kids and good parents," but the job has another perk.

"It gives me time to paint," he said.

Mr. Roy has been painting since he was a student at Grover Cleveland High School in St. Louis.

Now, he creates his surrealist and impressionist works in his 20-foot-by-24-foot studio.

The walls and easels of the studio, which features tile flooring and a gas fireplace, are covered with finished and unfinished canvases.

Mr. Roy, who works primarily with oils and listens to classical music while he paints, said he sometimes works on 10 to 15 paintings at a time. On the days he doesn't feel like picking up a brush, he still mats and frames his paintings and graphite prints.

"I do draw every day," he said. "If I don't come out here (to the studio), I keep my sketch pad with me."

He said he likes to paint with gadgets he picks up at discount stores. He has even painted through a piece of screen to give texture to his work.

"I love techniques to just make the paint express and tell the story," Mr. Roy said.

Many of his works include features of the three-story homes, brick sidewalks, fences, gates and alleys that he remembers from his boyhood neighborhood in St. Louis.

Some of his paintings also have a Mediterranean influence.

"It just takes you into the place that you're painting," he said.

Mr. Roy is a member of the Artists' Guild of Columbia County, which he said encourages high school students to join "so they don't stop painting."

Mr. Roy said his paintings are a form of relaxation that "puts you off into dreamland," and he hopes other people get the same feeling from his work.

He has won numerous awards for his artwork and exhibits at a number of places, including the Columbia County Library, R. Gabriel's in Martinez, the Medical College of Georgia and White Elephant Cafe in downtown Augusta.

"If you get down to the basics, and I don't sell any of them, they still make nice gifts," Mr. Roy said. "It's a good vice."

Reach Betsy Gilliland at (706) 868-1222, ext. 113, or betsy.gilliland@augustachronicle.com.