Robert Indiana kept a series of illustrated journals during the late 1950s and 1960s, in which he discusses the development of his work as well as daily life on Coenties Slip.

The first entry on this page covers February 14, 1959. Indiana records returning to graphite drawings, making some slightly larger ones with paper he had bought for a second large work. He also notes seeing Stanley Kramer's film The Defiant Ones with Charles Hinman and Ellsworth Kelly, and that he received only two Valentines.

The second entry covers February 14, 1960, and includes a sketch of a work the artist refers to as "February Painting." Notes indicate that the painting is 50 by 30 inches, and that Indiana used white gesso and cadmium red light (Bellini) paint.  A comment added at a later date explains that the work was renamed Red County, and that it was lent indefinitely to clinical psychologist and art collector Arthur Carr in 1961. 

Indiana also records that it was a cold and snowy day, and that he had wanted to go on a long walk, but that J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss) was too busy. So after clearing up breakfast he started another painting, "another turn [to] [the] image of [Stavrosis]."