CLAE WELCH

I’ll be having an opening, a group show, at Fifty 24/ Upper playground gallery in Portland. I’m so stoked, and very lucky to get the opportunity to show some artwork with this group. I’m sure all of the peeps will be putting out their best, thank you for including me, I’m very honored.

It has taken a while to get this new site going but here it is everyone! Thanks for being patient, it should be continuously updated from this point forward! YES!

www.claewelch.com

I’ve just started putting photos up so pretty soon we’ll get to the new stuff, I hope you like it!

Thank you Geo and Kev!!! it rules!

I’ve been very busy with tattooing and family, sorry if I have not been able to respond. On top of my inability to communicate due to circumstance, my trusty computer shit the bed. So, I lost all of my emails waiting to be responded to, and drafts I had been writing to all my peeps. Can you all re-email me your questions? Sorry.

Mel and I hit the road back out to Spokane for the tat convention this last week.

It was an awesome day, the Gorge is prolly the eighth wonder of the world…

Here are a couple of the tat jobs I did there… BUNNY NUTS!!!

Thanks guys, it was real fun working on you two.

OREGON INK’S first tattoo convention in Eugene was a great success for the tattooers, as well as the great guys who put it all together. I’m so surprised with all that they have achieved with consideration to our state’s stringent licensing regulations. The show was a pleasure to be a part of and I’m looking forward to any future shows they might put on.

This is Wendi, and the “Tattoo of the Day” award we won.
This is that tattoo…

This is Eli,we won both of these awards for his tattoo… “Tattoo of the Day” and “Best of Show”.
This is the tattoo…

Here is another really fun one I got to do at the tat con, Abe’s rye wolf…

Thanks to all of you for getting tattooed out there, it totally ruled! I am very thankful to all three of you for wanting to get tattooed. I’ll see you up in Portland!

I wanted to post these interviews for all of my customers who got printed. Thanks for all the support. Also thank you to Tattoo Revue, Northwest Tattoo, and ITA. I feel very lucky to have your magazines take interest in my tattooing.  

Birds, Birds, Birds…. Spring is in the air.

This one i started a couple of years ago and just got to finish it up…
This cassette of gears is a cover-up on both of his shoulders, say goodbye to E.T. smoking a joint and the water yin yang.
Just a piece of a full sleeve
Here is the finish of one of Dr. Zacks fav’s
Finished 6 mo. ago or so still a cool one.

After a taxing winter attack on the wonderful couple, Craig and Michele are here for good!
We are so happy to welcome them and have Craig as a permanent part of HISTORIC.

Here is a few highlights…

Here are photos of your last session Mike, I’ll see you next year!!!This is what happens when you make letters out of buildings.

We normally get just a few inches and it melts by that evening or the next day.
This might stick around…

This is the most awesome thing ever! My friend Aaron Busch made this Jacob’s Ladder and it is living at my studio right now.
I’ll be playing with it until he comes and takes it away.

POOPDECK DESTROYERS!I had to wait a while to work on this piece and it’s now finished, I thought I’d share…

Its fall in Portland, and prolly one of the most beautiful ever.

Sean had this on his hand, I think we were going to black-hand him or something…
This was our result, I think its going to have a little of that old one come through.
Mostly it was a success.

UH….. I’m not sure what this is…Down the rabbit hole.

Through the years, I have seen some amazing tattoos completed by Clae. But it’s the ones that are created with meaning that resonate with me the most.

Currently, there are two tattoos that have made an impression on me. The color palette so vibrate, unique and non-traditional; and speaks to what I call being “Clae-afied.”

The first is a tattoo on our friend Connor. It is to celebrate the birth of his daughter ISABEL ROSE LAMB. A sweet piece for a darling Isabel.

The other, is a tattoo on Abe. He came to Clae with a “no holds barred” standard. Abe was about to move away from Portland, and Clae thought it would be great to send him away with a memorial piece. It started with Clae drawing the initial elements on with a yellow skin pen, and as time went on using a darker pen to finalize it’s composition and overall design. And that’s not even the best part, the magic actually happens when it comes time for color.

SEE IT PAYS TO TRUST YOUR ARTIST!!!

I am proud to announce Craig will be working at Historic, full time, starting February 1st 2K9.
Check out his master tattooery and incredible prowess just to the right in my pages section of this blog.

***CRAIG WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE AND ACCEPTING
NEW CUSTOMERS STARTING THIS NOVEMBER***

He will be at the studio for three guest spots between now and February,
call me to book some time with him. 503-236-3440

……HISTORIC TATTOO KREW……..

I am proud to announce Craig will be working at Historic starting February 1st 2K9
Check out his master tattooery and incredible prowess.

Here I think we missed one, this is one of my favorites I’m working on…
I’ll have finished photos up in a couple months.
Thanks Russ.

Having been in the shop on a daily basis over the past months, I’ve seen a lot of huge, awesome tattooin’ going on. Super Quality like the man in black used to say. Or, as we’ve come to call it ‘round here—hella fuckin’ balls to the wall awesome.

Right now, in my humble-but-over-educated estimation, there are two pieces running neck and neck for most wicked hella fuckin’ balls to the wall awesome tattoos. Before getting to those pieces, lets consider what it means to be hella fuckin’ balls to the wall awesome. To be appropriately hella fuckin’ balls to the wall awesome, a tattoo has to be several things at once:
a) it has to be wicked big.
b) it has to be totally gnarly.
c) it has to be something I am jealous about not having.
And finally,
d) it has to, in general, be totally badass.

Now, to the contenders…

Exhibit #1 is Isaac’s leg sleeve of Persius beheading Medusa.

For one, this tattoo is HUGE. Secondly, the tattoo is cool as shit. My favorite parts so far are the blood , the head and the floppy tits of Medusa’s body. She aint no fine-ass Greek bombshell boys and girls. I quietly seethe about not having this tattoo and I can’t wait to see it finished.

Exhibit #2 is equally hella fuckin’ balls to the wall awesome! This one is Shane’s sleeve of some poor thang stabbing herself in the heart. She’s also got a string of something—guts, tentacles, whatever—I think it looks like a string of shirt buttons all around her.

The thing that makes this tattoo hella fuckin’ balls to the wall awesome is the burly/beautiful face on Shane’s hand. Not only is it a sweet-ass tattoo, but it looks phenomenal on the hand itself!

It looked badass in black, and is now totally gnarly and wicked cool. How many of us have the stones to have beauty’s death inscribed on our hand? This is another that I’m super jealous of.

In other news, I really like the way this AK themed piece turned out. A to the motherfuckin’ K homeboooooiiiyyyyy!

Portland RULES!

Oh yea, This is about to happen!

Glad to be home. Seattle was great, but now I get some time to enjoy my summer.

FLOWERS from my garden.

That’s North.

This is my hot wifey Melissa, and her over the shoulder! …ready for Hollywood…

“A group show of art inspired by tattoo culture.”

Me practicing my ventriloquist skills, melissa wasn’t sayin anything…

Shop shirts $15

WELCOME to my new blog, where you can keep track of what kind of HISTORIC art is taking place.