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 his daily life on Coenties Slip.

In his journal page for May 9, 1962, Indiana writes that it was "a quiet day filled with labor: from rise up [to] lie down." He notes that after painting the background on The Eateria and The American Dream (The Black Diamond American Dream #2) he turned to Die (a panel of The Green Diamond Eat/The Red Diamond Die). The entry includes a sketch of Die, Indiana commenting that he was taking the original white on black and pushing it into full color, adding a cadmium red light ground and cadmium yellow medium letters. He goes on to state: "now [the] red/yellow/black dominates on all sides. Its effect on [the] above [painting] [was] startling, for what [was] academic suddenly became "alive." It ceased [to] be the reverse study of [the] 1st Die, but little [was] lost there."

He then discusses turning to the painting The Sweet Mystery, which was "[very] dusty in [the] rack," and gessoing the off-black stripes in preparation for their reddening, as well as bringing out "Tira" (The Triumph of Tira) and testing the straight red. He notes that he should probably bring all his old ideas up to date, or scrap the canvases for their stretchers.