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.

In his journal entry for May 21, 1961, Indiana records that his first meal of the day, manicotti at the Orchidia (a Ukrainian restaurant in the East Village), "was yesterday's supper," and that he got the New York Times before going to bed late. He notes that artist Robert Bücker dropped by in the morning and left a card.

The entry includes a sketch of a work titled RR, with notes indicating its medium, red on cadmium red light / oil on canvas, and its dimensions, 10" x 8". The work is one of a series of 1961 paintings where a single letter is repeated; the works were later destroyed. Indiana also writes that he re-whitened "Joan" (Jeanne d'Arc) and began to renovate Marine Works. 

Indiana records that he noticed the end of the old navy pier that had burned the night before, and that Fred Mitchell and a friend had seen the fire. Dinner that evening was at the Chinese restaurant Wah Kee, and he saw the 1937 film The Good Earth, with Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, and Tilly Losch.