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 6, 1962, Indiana records that it was "a day on constructions." First, he notes changing the orange of Mate's side stripes and arrow to cadmium red light, to coincide with the "most prevalent current schema."

Second, he discusses his work on Marine Works: the reinforcement of the blue of the title monogram, and the addition of a new device for each wheel, arrows which designate the direction of each according to the order of the numbers. He comments that this greatly enhances the "general busy-ness of [the] whole, wh[ich] is exactly [the] intention. Certainly [the] price on [this] piece is going up w/ ea[ch] addition. Something like 2•grand•1/2 now, I think."

Third, Indiana records turning to "another old soldier," Zig, formerly Zeus, and altering the work by imposing black rings on the two yellow orbs on the reverse, "possibly w/ [the] intention of add’g numbers [to] these, probably 2 and 5 if I do."

And fourth, he discusses the painting 8, for which he includes a small sketch and notes adding black to the field and eight of the painting.

Indiana also records returning a call from James Rosenquist, who had been sick with a virus, and that he saw a "fine TV film on Van Gogh w/ only his [letters] as text." He notes that it just occurred to him for the first time that he got his first stencil with someone named Jasper, while he was a student at Arsenal Tech.