Painting, surface and time.

I was wondering about time again today. Layering and multiplicity in painting seem to be the key. Also, when I see a painting from history, I often imagine surface as capturing something of the moment when the mark was made. Smells, movement, even body language of the artist all evident in the surface of the painting. After all, mark after mark, moment after moment that painting was created. The final work is a culmination of a series of moments captured in the material and the image. I wonder if that is the only way that I can achieve, capture or express time in a painting...