Gestural arabesques of intense meaty red cover this panel, which depicts a large hand cupping both a breast and the peeled segments of an orange. use your own plate is a painting about empowerment, where the title addresses the act of commodifying women’s bodies in intimacy.

Tomlinson's paintings are layers of meaning and cultural or art historical references, which invite multiple readings. Her paintings put the physicality of paint and surface in service to her message about the power structures within relationships, and, because they arise from a deeply personal experience the artist admits she often feels vulnerable and exposed during the making.

For this series of works the entire surface of the body was first painted using a thick gesso medium, applied using the artist’s fingers. Then the medium was dragged all over to create a thick textured effect. In this variation, layered oil pastel was additionally applied on top of the oil paint to build a really textured, expressive and abstracted cropped painting.