The harvest - Sketching slices of life with a hitoyogiri

Since my last video, I’ve had to admit it’s harder than I thought to go out on hitoyogiri errands. The way I imagined them, at least.

Trusting one’s mojo

YouTube Studio just sent me a little happy birthday card; I’ve been sharing flute videos for two years! It could explain why, since this summer, I’ve felt like something was ready to harvest. Harvesting my experience so far, and also collecting new seeds to expand my playing.

I decided it was time to step out of my comfort zone. Play outside. But you know how sometimes doors just won’t open, because you’re unknowingly going against your own mojo? The flute excursions were only happening in my head, but never IRL.

And I was talking about it with Jérôme the other day. He said, “Well, if it’s happening in your head, great! If you can picture it, draw it. Just make it happen in drawing.”

At first I thought he was crazy. But it made sense!

Finding the thread

I never mention it, but I have a background with drawing. I set it aside for a long time because I didn’t like how the people gravitating around me were labelling me as the gal who draws. They had expectations. I didn’t want to be summed up to that, and I rejected this forced identity. Oddly though, even years after I stopped showing what I drew to anyone, the identity stuck. I had just become the creative gal who used to draw. Since I couldn’t shake it off (and maybe didn’t really want to shake it off either?), I decided to give it a chance.

Pen and flute? I wasn’t sure how to make them work together, but I finalised the first video, filming myself journalling in my sketchbook, and playing the flute between sequences.

While watching the final result, it dawned on me that journalling, drawing and hitoyogiri work together for a reason. They belong to the same “contemplative” universe.

Sowing new crops before winter

I was talking about harvesting the “fruits” of my experience at the start of this article, and the image fits. This sketched storytelling is taking my daily flute practice one step further into uncharted territory, like stepping into a new world where magic really exists, and hitoyogiri is the portal where some of that magic can seep into our daily lives.

I express it through a slice-of-life format. Stories about a hitoyogiri player, set to music that I play.

So the concept of the seasonal diary videos doesn’t change; my playing will still follow the seasons for an entire year. I’ll be sharing my usual thoughts and insights about the journey in my sketchbook diary instead of just plain talking.

It feels a lot like planting crops before winter, and nurturing them during the cold months, hoping that by springtime, they will have grown into something beautiful, ready to bloom into the world.