Summer 2025

C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 5 105 Upon returning stateside, he successfully tran- sitioned to story illustration, and landed his first assignment for The Post in early 1923. Teague spent most of his summers in Europe in the 1920s and London became his second home. But after riding high through the 1920s, he received a gut punch in 1929 as the Great Depression began to take hold— The Post let a number of its junior illustrators go, and Teague was among them. Undaunted,Teague simultaneously decided to transition from oil to watercolor painting for illustration work, as watercolor reproduces bet- ter in magazines. He was picked up by Collier’s in late 1929 and given all the assignments he could handle.Teague was rehired by The Post in 1937 as the Great Depression lifted. Just a year later, Don and Verna were married and, after their honeymoon, moved cross-country to Encino. Teague had developed into a top Western illus- trator in the 1930s, a genre for which he had lit- tle lived experience. Proximity to Hollywood and its Western sets and accoutrements was, perhaps counterintuitively, highly advantageous. By 1948, a post-war construction blitzkrieg was rapidly transforming bucolic Encino into a hectic Los Angeles suburb.TheTeagues sought a more relaxed and inspiring environment for themselves and their daughters. After a search as far north as Marin, the elder Teagues decided that Carmel looked like the best fit. After renting a home at 13th and Dolores for a year, theTeagues knew that Carmel would be their forever home. They bought a lot on Fifth near Randall and, working with a local car- penter, began drawing up plans for a home.The carpenter was an admirer of Hugh Comstock’s post-adobe construction method, and con- vinced the Teagues to build in that style. With simple elevations in hand, work commenced. Teague kept meticulous cost records, and paid the various contractors on a weekly basis. By mid-1951, construction was complete and the Teagues moved in. Costs were: land $12,000, and construction $14,000. Teague was an Anglophile, and the home has a distinct English cottage feel on the inside, to include 7-foot ceilings in many rooms. Quirks, perhaps a result of the elevations-only approach, add to the home’s charm. Teague used The Plaza Hotel Saloon in San Juan Bautista as the backdrop for a saloon fight illustration. The Saturday Evening Post , 1954. Teague enjoyed him- self while traveling, but these were also working trips—he would sketch and take photos of interesting scenes, then paint what he had experienced when back in his Carmel studio.