"I had spent a few weeks doing another drawing of a barnacled sea shell, and when I began composing this next drawing of a still life with a pear as its subject, the idea came to me to gather some barnacles from Pemaquid Point near our home, and have them populate the skin of the pear as well, strange (and comical) as this may seem. As things developed, I decided to have the sea shell, with the pear as its understudy, being mentored on the novel idea of such unique dress for a pear."

-John Whalley