His artwork was well received by fellow artists Jennie V. Cannon and Percy Gray, as well as art critics for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune.

[3] At the start of World War I, Criley and his family moved to Monterey, California in 1916, and visited the art colony in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

[4] He acted in Forest Theater productions, including Robin Hood in 1919, Yellow Jacket in 1920, and Pomander Walk and Twelve Pound Look in 1921.

In 1921, he held a solo exhibition at the Helgesen Gallery in San Francisco with 17 paintings of seascapes and landscapes of Carmel and Point Lobos.

The Argus in San Francisco described his entry into this exhibition as an “academic portrait of Dr. McDougall of the Carnegie Laboratory... a solid painting and a creditable contribution to the group.”[1] His artwork was well received by fellow artists Jennie V. Cannon and Percy Gray, as well as art critics for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune.

[1] In March 1922, Criley fought and won a highly publicized "duel of fists" with playwright Harry Leon Wilson.

He spent three months in Honolulu undergoing physical training and instruction in boxing, then he returned and the two men met on "a high cliff overlooking the sea".

"[10] In November 1932, a memorial exhibition of 35 of his watercolors was held at the Stanford University Art Gallery and included paintings from Morocco, France and Carmel.