“It’s always flowers,” Sarah Watts says. “I’m obsessed with flowers.”
Watts has spent the last 14 years immersed in petals and pistils as one of the most luxe and in-demand florists in Arizona, designing bouquets, tablescapes and arches for nuptials at tony resorts. When COVID paused her business in 2020, she found a new medium to explore her obsession: watercolor.
“Ever since I was little, I wanted to paint,” she says. “I got out of my head and was like, ‘I’m just going to do it. Even if people don’t like it.’”
Minnesota native Watts grew up in a family that moved a lot. For her, art – from drawing on paper plates to designing outfits for her Barbies to painting her jeans – was a constant, a refuge from the chaotic world.
“I was always in art classes no matter where we lived,” she says. “I definitely knew from a young age that creating was alchemy.”
After years of what she calls “shadow jobs” that flirted with creativity without committing to it – managing clothing shops, working for interior and fashion designers – she launched the business that is now Zinnia Floral Co. in 2011. This past January, she expanded beyond floral design to sell her watercolor depictions of blooms, from wild clusters of magenta bougainvillea to elegant arrangements of pink phalaenopsis. Her goal is to transition to making art full-time.
“If I’m lucky, I’m in the middle of my life. And to think about the rest of my life being exactly what I thought it was going to be when I was little…” Watts says.
“I’ve lived a lot of lives. But I haven’t lived this life. It’s important to give it a try.”
See more of Watts’s work at zinniafloral.co
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors
“They’re kind of like borderline gouache. So, you can make them really saturated, which is kind of a weird thing for watercolor. But you can water them down quite a bit, too, and then get that watery look.”
Sage & Salt Crystals
“There needs to be good energy surrounding weddings. It’s important to keep things high-vibe and clear. I love the crystals in here. I have a lot in my house, too.”
Paper Plate Art
“When I was little, I took a pack of like 300 paper plates and a ballpoint pen while my mom was napping. Drew on every single one of them – some front, some back – and then laid them
out all over the living room floor.”
Panache Apparel Bag
“I ordered that on Instagram. I think it’s [made] from a rug. I use it to carry my supplies.”
Mini Gerbera Daisies
Watts paints from photos of flowers and from live blooms, like these “throwbacks to the ’90s… all these ’90s flowers are back now.”
Read It: Silent Sonora
The histories of many high-profile Arizonans are well-documented – Sandra Day O’Connor’s girlhood at Lazy B Ranch, Barry Goldwater’s beginnings in his family’s Phoenix department store, Linda Ronstadt’s Tucson roots. Less known are the stories of everyday people like Lillian Carroll Henkel, a woman who grew up in Depression-era Scottsdale. Henkel lived a hardscrabble existence: She and her nine siblings were raised by two deaf parents and lived in tents while their agricultural laborer father strained to support them. In Silent Sonora ($9.99, Rogue Phoenix Press), writer and former college professor Jeffrey Ross brings Henkel’s story to life through first-person interviews he conducted with her before her 2012 death. Henkel’s folksy reminiscences provide fascinating snapshots of the local experience of a national crisis. Silent Sonora is a must-read for Arizona history junkies.
— Leah LeMoine
