AS a musician he is an icon - a guitarist whose work is indelibly ingrained on a generation.

Now Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood is giving art connoisseurs and music lovers alike the chance to share in his other major passion as a rare collection of his drawings, paintings and sketches go on display in the south today.

The Out Of The Studio exhibition runs until June 25 at Dimbola Lodge at Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight.

It offers fans a fascinating insight into the worlds of some of the biggest names in 20th century music as Wood captures friends and colleagues where they are most at home.

Given his unique access to such musical legends as John Lennon, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton and Jim Morrison, not to mention his Stones bandmates, over the course of the past 35 years, Ronnie's works have an air of intimacy other artists struggle to achieve.

The 40-piece exhibition was devised by John Giddings, from Stones' promoters Solo Promotions Ltd, who is a Dimbola Lodge Museum trustee.

A Dimbola spokesman said: "The exhibition is a fantastic vibrant array of artworks created by Ronnie over a series of years and is one of Dimbola's first exhibitions that doesn't involve photography.

"The exhibition will appeal to all ages particularly music fans but Ronnie has also included some animal portraits which no doubt were created on his travels around the world."

The exhibition will be in place for the Nokia IOW Festival, when thousands of music fans will flock to the island on June 9-11 to see Coldplay, Foo Fighters and the Prodigy.

Before becoming a Rolling Stone, 58-year-old Ronnie studied at Ealing College of Art and his first job was as a signwriter. It was music that eventually won out and he joined The Birds in 1964 before latterly performing with The Creation, Jeff Beck Group, The Small Faces (later just The Faces).

Following the departure of Mick Taylor from the Stones in 1974, Ronnie stepped into the breach. Earlier this year, the band put on one of the biggest shows in history treating more than one million fans to an extraordinary free gig on Rio's Copacabana Beach.

Dimbola Lodge (Terrace Lane, Freshwater Bay) is open to the public Tues - Sun 10am-5pm, gallery admission adults £4, children under 16 free. Visit www.dimbola. co.uk