The invitees, skilled in hand-pulled printmaking techniques such as etching, relief prints, lithography, handmade books, monotype and mixed media, gathered at the large Oakland studio of artist and CSP board president, Benny Alba. As you enter through Albastudio's purple door, you are enveloped in a heady mix of creativity, hard work and mischievous fun. To your right are four hulky guys, nattily dressed, wearing hats that partly obscure their faces. Cigars hang from mouths, and all are around a table, playing poker and drinking. You guessed it; they're handmade plaster mannequins. But I promise, you can't avoid an immediate urge to say "Hello!"

I very much enjoyed meeting these artists and listening as they shared technical expertise and art stories with each other. Kensington's Elizabeth Kavaler, 82, was originally a commercial artist who turned to printmaking, attracted by the "technical aspects and demand for patience." Her lovely color landscape etchings are enlivened by textural contrasts, achieved by way of aquatint and an electric engraver. Berkeley's Joan Finton wears many hats. In addition to creating wonderful multi-layered abstract prints, she serves as the historian for CSP's board of directors, and teaches classes in her home studio, in nursing homes and at Richmond's National Institute for Art and Disabilities (NIAD).

San Francisco's Charles Ware, 84, awesomely skilled at drawing, carried a notebook of fantastic, surreal colored pencil drawings. Failing eyesight now precludes image-making, so he writes. Novato's Catherine Atkinson discussed her three wonderful mezzotints portraying the demise of California Oaks. Alice Fong traveled from Sacramento and showed an example of a multicolored mixed media monoprint that she "set aside for many years and just recently added the finishing touches."

Susan Tibbon's intricately detailed creations of plant life, insects and reptiles hang in Oakland's Museums Collectors Gallery. Energetic Lila Wahrhaftig loves embossment, etching, paper-making and creating specially commissioned work. Priscilla Berg said, "I am an artist and I don't consider age a factor."

I wish I could mention everyone present. I loved the general consensus that most would choose to take their last breathes in their studios, alongside a trusty print press with a new project in the works.

To learn more: California Society of Printmakers, P.O. Box 475422, San Francisco, CA 94147; 415-905-4296; www.caprintmakers.org.