Hall Booth Smith Commissions Painting for ‘Whale Done’ Program

ATLANTA – Hall Booth Smith, P.C. commissioned a painting to exemplify its Whale Done program that recognizes the above-and-beyond work that its people do to help clients and each other fulfill the firm’s motto “Serving to Achieve Excellence.”

The Whale Done program emphasizes the importance of having a positive attitude and servant leadership by everyone at the firm, and it was the inspiration for an abstract acrylic painting created by Bradley Carter, an artist in Wilmington, North Carolina. He came up with the design while reading the book Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships by Ken Blanchard, which also inspired HBS’s program.

The premise of Whale Done is that recognizing positive behaviors and accomplishments while redirecting negative behaviors and shortcomings leads to higher productivity, better morale and an attitude of collaborative teamwork that makes extraordinary performance possible.

“Our HBS family is built on trust, teamwork and accentuating the positive, and it’s very special to have our values captured in a visually appealing way,” said John E. Hall, Jr., one of the founding partners of Hall Booth Smith, who came across Carter’s work and was drawn to the bright colors and emotions it evokes. “When guests ask about these paintings, we’ll be able to share the story of Whale Done and what it means to us.”

The commissioned piece Carter painted is titled “Redirect” and it features greenish blue swoops with a trace of yellow and red and in the middle is a large white path that splits two ways and represents the choices we make. Underneath several layers of paint are early inspiration sketches of an abstract whale tail.

“It splits in two directions, because we have that option. We can go this way or that way. We can choose what to do,” Carter said. “It works in business, at home, with your children. When your glass gets full, it doesn’t take much to make it overflow. How you decide to deal with that matters.”

A companion painting with a similar color palette that Carter made previously is titled “Carolina summer” and is mostly blue with a bold red and orange arc curving through it. That piece was inspired by the vivid bands of color that streak across the sky during intense storms, he said.

The paintings hang at the entrance to the conference rooms near the lobby area of Hall Booth Smith’s headquarters at the 191 Peachtree office tower in downtown Atlanta.

Carter has painted most of his adult life, and received a degree in painting and print making from Virginia Commonwealth University. After a decade-long career running a franchise business, he returned to painting full-time in 2013.

His work has been featured in juried shows in Wisconsin and California and has been exhibited at numerous art galleries, and it won a Best in Abstract category award at the Landfall Art Show. His work has also been shown on ABC’s Secrets and Lies, and TNT’s Good Behavior.

About Hall Booth Smith
Established in 1989, Hall Booth Smith, P.C. (HBS) is a full-service law firm with six regional offices strategically located throughout Georgia, as well as offices in Birmingham, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina; Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina; Jacksonville, North Palm Beach and Tallahassee, Florida; and Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. Experienced across a wide range of legal disciplines, HBS attorneys pride themselves on providing knowledgeable, proactive, client-specific counsel to individuals, domestic and international corporations, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations. The firm’s promise: “Serving to Achieve Excellence.” To learn more, please visit: www.hallboothsmith.com.