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.

Indiana's journal page for August 21, 1961, includes a sketch of of the Coenties Slip circle from The Slips, and the artist notes finishing the painting's rings as well as adding another coat of green to the inner circles. He records having dinner in, and a visit  from his friend Dudley, who brought a Hoboken neighbor with him. Of the neighbor Indiana writes, "my work a new experience for him—a little irked with Griegg for bringing such a stranger [to] [the] loft." Indiana also mentions a visit from artist Jim Dine.