The planets do go around the Sun anticlockwise when viewed looking down from above the North pole [0], and most diagrams show it that way, so maybe that's where the idea comes from?
Although, converse arguments can be made for both - even if we assume an observer located in the north. If we do indeed picture the Earth rotating in space from the outside - it actually rotates counterclockwise around its axis with the north up. So should day clocks actually run "backwards"? And the "fixed" background of distant stars seem to rotate around a northern observer in the clockwise direction throughout the year - so the image of the year rotating clockwise is just as correct.
Everything seems relative to the prespective chosen.