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 entry for August 31, 1961, which consists of two pages, Indiana declares it to be a "green day." He records giving his second version of God Is a Lily of the Valley an additional green coat, as James Rosenquist had "put a scar on it," and includes a sketch of one of the four small circles ("He is blossom"). He then notes adding green paint to Yield Brother, The Fair Rebecca, and Loftiest Trucks (Melville).

Indiana also records that he finished reading Alan Sillitoe's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, and that he started working on an old unfinished construction (Gem), getting "kicked off on [the] theme of blackball." The entry then continues on his journal page for July 23, 1961, as indicated by a note at the bottom of the page. Here he explains that the blackballing in question was of his mother, by a woman named Irene, who suspected her of membership in the inner sanctum of The Order of the Eastern Star (a Masonic appendant body open to both men and women). Indiana notes that he added a set of double letters to the reverse of the sculpture (the front and back of which are illustrated), and that Stephen and Barbara Durkee came over around one in the morning, just as he was finishing the work.