Ronnie Wood vampire painting on sale

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A painting of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood in the guise of a blood-sucking vampire by his brother-in-law is being auctioned for charity.

The rock guitarist is depicted sucking the blood of a blonde victim in the portrait by artist Paul Karslake.

Blood sucker: Karslake has depicted his brother-in-law Ronnie Wood as a vampire

Karslake, whose sister is the musician's estranged wife Jo, was commissioned to create a picture to mark the launch of US TV show True Blood on UK channel FX on July 17 at 10pm.

The image, which is being auctioned on eBay, is apparently a reaction to the guitarist's relationship with Ekaterina Ivanova, 20.

Wood, 62, left his wife of 23 years for the young Russian last year.

Describing the painting as "cathartic", Karslake said: "I sat down to watch (True Blood) and one of the characters, Vampire Bill, straight away reminded me of Ronnie. Once that happened I couldn't get the image out of my head. I've been really upset over the events of the past few months and my brush just did the talking."

He went to extreme lengths to create the piece, even using his own blood.

A spokeswoman for FX Channel, which commissioned the work, said: "We know it is a very provocative show, but we had no idea that he would come back with something as shocking as this. The painting is beautifully done and a truly powerful image - but not at all what we expected."

Bidding opened for the painting on Monday, and all proceeds are to go to blood donation charities.

The painting is being auctioned on eBay at http://tinyurl.com/mmf994.

 

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