Heather Clough makes having eight legs look fun

EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY Mixed media artist Heather Clough. In her art, Heather Clough leans toward the bright and exuberant, rather than the dark and disturbing.

"I'm inspired by comic books and toys," she said. "The brighter side of life. I try to be organized, but I'm not. I always have tons of projects going on."

Her mixed-media paintings and sculptures include portraits of one, two or three-eyed octopuses that she has heard described as "toys for your wall." She hangs their detachable, polymer clay tentacles off the bottom of the canvas.

Ms. Clough, 26, conceived them one night "out of boredom" at the small home in Fort Myers she shares with two musicians. At an art show last Christmas, they sold unexpectedly well, and more recently, they've been a hot item at HOWL Gallery/ Tattoo in downtown Fort Myers.

"They're like my babies," she said of her "Octopod" series. "When they first started selling them, I was like 'Oh my God, are they going to take care of them?' It takes so much time. Each of those tentacles is hand sculpted."

Healther Clough's Octopod Her aptitude for creating adorable monsters may have come from one of her earliest influences, Jim Henson, creator of the Sesame Street characters and The Muppets.

"Sesame Street made a huge influence on my life," Ms. Clough said. "Oh my God, I was obsessed with Jim Henson. I had every figure he ever did."

Around the time she was delighted by Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch — in fourth grade — she met Tim Carver, another influence. Now he's her boyfriend, but they've both changed a lot since then. Both grew up around Fort Myers.

"The first thing I said to him was 'You're an idiot!'" Ms. Clough said. "And then we became best friends."

But it all began on Sesame Street.

"Sesame Street was the coolest show ever," she said. "They featured people like Herbie Hancock, teaching kids how to loop digital music. I was really young when (Jim Henson) died and I was just devastated by it. He was the first person I felt like I was close to when he died."

Other inspirations include the novel "Ray in Reverse" by Daniel Wallace, 1960s pop artist Peter Max, "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, and Pablo Picasso.

"Of course Picasso," she said. "Who isn't influenced by Picasso?"

Probably no one. But it took Ms. Clough to truly appreciate her great-grandmother, who is 93 and lives in Lee County.

"She's an artist," Ms. Clough said. "She's written plays and poetry. She's (also) a visual artist. So we kind of connected on the same level. So I guess vicariously I picked up on a lot through her.

"She was the only person in my life growing up who was an artist in my family, so she kind of understood the things I was going through creatively."

When she was very young, Ms. Clough also emulated baroque paintings, fascinated by their realism. But she never had any formal artistic training or took art courses. At North Fort Myers High School, she continued her work — in all her various textbooks and notebooks.

"I've always worked on art in every class I had in high school," she said. "I just had my sketchbook and I drew in every class I had, and I got in so much trouble for it.

"I was into surrealism at the time — popsurrealism, I guess. I wanted to make (art) my whole life. I was so tired of people telling me what to do with my life."

Later she started getting serious about selling her art, including on her Web site at www.heatstrokeart.etsy.com. She can also be reached at heatstrokeart@gmail.com.

Ms. Clough has worked at local galleries, and as a seamstress, embellishing and altering dresses for weddings and formal occasions.

Although she now works odd jobs — and is prepared to eat Ramen noodles on a daily basis to make her work a priority — she is happy her "Octopods" are on display at HOWL. They sell for about $80 to $250.

"I can't really remember exactly how I found out about the gallery but I know it was through My Space," she said. "We just kind of kept in touch until it opened up (in March) and then I got brave enough to go down there and show them my work."

She adds, laughing, "That gallery is just so off the wall and different from anything around here. He's brings that kind of — how do you say, 'youngin' it up.' He's trying to bring a new vibe."

Ms. Clough is currently working on more octopuses and other offbeat monsters.