Sometimes Cecile Clifford takes one or two of the Wogs outside and poses them near flowers in her gardens, under trees or mushrooms, takes photos and then imagines a conversation they might be having.

What are Wogs? Well, they’re just a few of the unusual creations born of Clifford’s imagination in her studio, The Gallery at My Way, in Boothbay. They’re a cross between Neanderthals, trolls (although she is right, they really are too cute to be trolls), and characters you might meet somewhere in Middle Earth. Their bodies are made of poly clay, their cool, wild hair is alpaca wool. They’re posable – and they have distinct personalities.

The first Wog, Slumpy, has long black hair, a large, long nose and sports a black and white cap and purple scarf. “He’s the intellectual,” Clifford said. "He doesn’t look like it, but he is!”

After Slumpy, Clifford made another, with a more feminine look about it. Its ears are quite elongated (as though it had worn heavy earrings for a very long time),and the mid-length gray hair is gathered up like the start of a bun, but left wild and free on top (think Tina Turner's hair in the 1980s). This one’s name didn’t come to her quite as easily as the first. One day she was studying the new creature and its web-like feet got her thinking about frogs, then pollywogs, and then it came to her: Polly Wog.

“Polly is very vain and thinks that she should be somewhere other than Wog Hollow (sounds like a Miss Piggy – the Muppet, that is – mindset!),” explained Clifford.

The third, Bugaboo, has the same long black hair as Slumpy, and a similar nose. Bugaboo looks younger than Slumpy and Polly, and adorably goofy.

“Now Bugaboo gets into a lot of trouble, and Uncle Slumpy – Polly’s the one that started calling him ‘Uncle’ – always has to come and straighten him out … Once I posed Bugaboo next to a Jack-in-the-Pulpit in the garden. Uncle came by and asked Bugaboo what he was doing. Bugaboo said he was wondering what ‘it’ (Jack-in-the-pulpit) was and he thought it was trying to talk to him … and the conversation went on from there!” Cecile said laughing, adding, “It’s my inner child coming out.”

One day Clifford decided to place Polly in the yard near an open container of water. Naturally, Polly couldn’t help looking at her reflection in it. “She sat there touching her hair saying ‘Aren’t I pritt-tee?’”

A while back, while Clifford was attempting to pose Uncle Slumpy under a mushroom, one of his shoulders separated from his arm. “I can’t do too much with him now and Polly is in the same shape, but he’s much worse. I may have to try to make them again – I just need to find something to make them out of.”

Late last year, Clifford decided to try making more Wogs, but smaller and with cloth bodies. The faces and hands were made of the same clay, but due to their size she couldn’t give them the same long noses, and so these Wogs, though similar to the elders, have a more human appearance.

They are part of the miniature diorama, “Welcome to Wog Hollow” that has been on display at Mama D’s Cafe on Union Street in Boothbay Harbor since early summer.

“I just love everything she does,” said Lorie Demers (a.k.a. Mama D). “I don’t know how she comes up with all the stuff she does … she’s so talented.”

Clifford spent the winter months building this village in the Land of Wog. In February, she and her husband David were out in the woods gathering moss Clifford planned to use as the ground cover. This moss was dried out by the woodstove in the basement. The moss used on the dwellings for the fairy, wizard, gypsies, and Wogs is kiln-dried from Michael’s Craft Stores.

Other materials used to create this fanciful world included tree bark, acorns, pebbles, sliced rounds of wood, beach glass, a butternut squash gourd, tree branches, some of those mushroom-like growths on trees, pine cones, acorns and, for the pond, painted glass.

Other items she picked up at Michael’s include a small teacup and saucer for the fairy house, and a metal wheelbarrow. The horse pulling the gypsy wagon is an oldie Clifford’s had for a long time. “He’s an old timer with health problems. I think the gypsy is going to have to get a new one at one of the fairs coming up.”

Another ailing resident of Wog Hollow is the village wizard – highly regarded by the Wogs  – who is, at this writing, still at the “Clifford Health Center” undergoing a series of outpatient surgeries.

When her imagination isn’t busy birthing Wogs and creating new worlds, Clifford can be found with paintbrush in hand. Yes, she’s an artist as well as a creator! Clifford began drawing when she was a young girl.

“I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s (Estelle Gamage) in Newagen (on Southport Island) growing up. She always made sure I had plenty of paper and pencils. Grammy’s the one who really gave me the courage to paint and draw.”

Clifford was an outdoor kid whose love for the woods has endured through adulthood. “I loved looking for places little creatures might live and imagined what they’d look like – and to this day I do the same thing.” Now, however, when she returns from the woods, she goes right on ahead and makes them.

“I like making creatures or funny dolls and there are creatures everywhere,” she said, gesturing around her studio. Among the other creatures are the “gourd orffles.” These are composed of gourd bodies, twine or twig limbs and milk thistle or alpaca wool hair. She mentioned nothing about continuing stories with this lot, but with all the tales she’s already fabricated about the Wogs, it sounds like “someone” should be writing children’s books.

And, as it turns out this thought had occurred to her. She’s already started making sketches for a series of books, “The Wog Stories.” Until they are published, spend some time getting to know Cecile Clifford: Stop by her gallery on Route 27. Just look for the large green frog on the bike. Or head over to Mama D’s and spend some time in Wog Hollow, while it’s still there ...