I love multimedia and mixing mediums that are traditionally not compatible. Putting organic, natural materials in or on my paintings is another thing I feel compelled to do. So, most of my canvases are primed with gesso and, say, unrefined Himalayan salt or soil from somewhere I've traveled, dried moss, small twigs, seeds, etc.
I want my paintings to be highly textural and I want people to touch them, engage with them.
My base painting will be acrylics, because they dry fast. I am impatient at some stages of working. And infinitely patient at others.
After the acrylic base dries, I add details with oil pastels, oil paint markers, and gesso (when I want to create stark white details). Sometimes I add more non-traditional materials: gold wire, metallic paint, actual metal fragments, feathers, or scraps of fabric, for instance.
The patient stages are when I am uncertain where a painting wants to "go" next... then I pause and wait and end up observing the painting for a long time. Sometimes days, weeks, months... until the next stage of creating becomes obvious to me.