Ron Wood says Rolling Stones headed back to studio

By John McCrank

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones are heading back to the studio this month to toss around ideas and try new material, Ronnie Wood said, taking the guitarist away for a time from his first love, painting.

At the opening of his new art show, 'Faces, Time and Places,' in New York City on Monday, Wood was far more focused on his art work than the Stones' plans to celebrate the band's 50 years in music. But he did allow that he and his bandmates were "kicking at the heels" to record again.

"We're going to get together to have a rehearsal and see what happens," Wood told Reuters about the plan to record.

Outside the Stones, Wood, who turns 65 in June, is busier than ever. His visual art career is thriving, he is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a second time this week in Cleveland, he has a radio show in Britain and fruitful solo projects.

Despite being in one of the biggest rock bands in history and having played early in his career with Rod Stewart and Faces, Wood said that if he had his way, he would like to be known more as an artist than as a musician.

"I'm a painter who plays guitar," he said at the Broom Street Gallery in Soho, where around 50 of his paintings, sketches, and prints are showing until the end of June.

Most are colorful portraits of bandmates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, along with other celebrities such as Jerry Hall, formerly married to Jagger, and Muhammad Ali.

The pieces vary from early 1960s sketches to paintings of pop culture icons Wood has known and worked with at different stages of his career.