It’s never too late to start your art.

Both Frances McMurchy and Wendy Eeckhout know that for themselves.

About five years ago, each of the local women began painting after years of putting it on hold as they worked and raised families.

“I didn’t practise art at all,” McMurchy said. “It was always on my wish list, you see, but I never did it.”

Eeckhout said she’s been interested in art since she was a child, when she would paint and draw.

By the time she began high school, Eeckhout always made room for an art elective, but that wasn’t doable when she went to university and she put her art aside for many years.

McMurchy told the Herald she didn’t know how to start doing her art again until a friend of hers showed her the basics.

“Then off I was running,” McMurchy said.

Now, she dabbles in water colours and acrylics.

Eeckhout rediscovered her artistic flair after she retired, and began pursuing her passion for oil painting.

On Nov. 14, Eeckhout and McMurchy will be teaming up for an art show titled Oil and Water Do Mix at the Courthouse Art Gallery. Both women paint images of local scenes and the show will feature many familiar sights from the Nicola Valley.

McMurchy said her artistic style captures “local art.”

“Local things that people drive by or pass by everyday, and things that they can stop and go, “Oh, I know where that is,’” she said.

Eeckhout said she enjoys painting the local landscapes of the Nicola Valley.

“Especially the fall season,” she said.

To start the painting process, McMurchy will take a photograph of the image and bring it to life in paint form. She said positioning of the painting’s main subject is very important. She said all the paintings she does have a subject that draws people’s eye.

McMurchy said she’s been doing acrylic paintings for about a year, and described it as more forgiving than water colours when it comes to making corrections or changes.

Eeckhout said she needs to be inspired by a reference, such as a photo, in her art. She said she works in layers and uses a lot of glazes to give her oil paintings more depth.

The art show opens Nov. 14 at the Courthouse Art Gallery with an artists’ reception from 5 to 8 p.m. The show will also be available to view between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Nov. 15 and 16.