Grizzly Tattoo

Grizzly is easily one of the finest shops in Portland!

I can't even begin to tell you how pleased I am with all the work that Rich Cuellar has done for me. I have worked with him six times now and have my 7th visit already on the calendar.  Not only is he a great artist, the time spent sitting in the chair always includes good conversations about music, food, bikes, silly shit, etc. Do yourself a favor and give him a call to schedule a sitting.

Keep up the great work gang!

Tyler created something original and gorgeous, i'm utterly in love with it!

After checking out many shops, Tyler was definitely the person to create a large two-leg piece that i'd been milling around in my brain-space. His portfolio immediately struck me, in that way great art does (makes you feel something). I'd met him when he worked on a friend and he has a wonderful demeanor, which is very important - you want to actually like the person creating permanent work on your body. He's also been very patient with my weird little preferences, ongoing editorial, and non-stop expletives while he works on me.

Everyone in the shop is very friendly, professional, unpretentious, and generally nice humans! Not to mention the beautiful portfolios. I already have more tattoos in my mind and Grizzly will definitely be where I get them!

We happened upon this shop while we were waiting to get a table at Tasty N' Sons on vacay from San Diego.  They hadn't opened yet so we swore we would stop in again after our meal to check things out as I had already swore that I would get another tattoo in the mother of all tattoo cities.

I'm so glad we went and I don't know how I'll ever go to another shop again.

After breakfast, we came back and met Eric who was super friendly and approachable.  I made an appointment to get a rose (before I found out from a guy in Walgreens that Portland has the moniker, "The Rose City") and happened to meet the owner of the shop, Tyler.  We told them they had been, thus far in our trip, the nicest people we'd met in Portland besides the people at the hotel we were staying at and it wasn't long before we learned that Tyler was actually from north San Diego county!  

Needless to say, we came back later in the day for my scheduled appointment in which Eric had drawn a rose exactly the way I had imagined it.  In no time it was permanently etched into my right shoulder and I knew that I'd be back to get the quarter sleeve it will eventually belong to.  

Thankfully, we're headed to eastern Oregon later this year, and my boyfriend and I have already set aside time to *hopefully* be able to make an appointment with Eric again because I couldn't imagine getting it done anywhere else.  This is the kind of shop that is awesome for tattoo virgins and veterans alike (the rose was my third tattoo personally), and I recommend it to anyone visiting the area who might have an inkling to go get some quality body art.  The artists are hella talented, serious about their art, and super laid back.  

My only disappointment?  That there isn't a shop in SD!