(All Spoilers)The passage of time

[Ratsplat]

Considering that Verso was a child when making the canvas, and that time within a canvas goes much faster than out of it, it feels like a canvas isn't always active. Let's say that the canvas is 15-20 years old. One would think that if a canvas is always active, then millions of years have surely passed within the canvas world.

And so, my thought is that a canvas is only active, or at least only moves at a quick pace while a painter is actively exploring its world. A painting may be magical, but it likely requires a 'power source' to be fully active. I imagine a painter can even set how much time passes within a canvas, since with that much power, I doubt there is only 1 speed that is set in stone between all paintings.

Nothing outright confirms this, but we can look towards Clea for some hints. With how cold and uncaring she is about the canvas in her older years, she was likely still just a child, or at least a teen, the last time she visited Francois. It is said he hasn't seen her for centuries (I'm guessing 200-300 years, though more is certainly possible.), and if she hasn't cared for him for 5+ years, then once again millions of years surely would have passed.

And if this is all true, then we can use this time period to tell us when Aline first entered the painting. I see it as the canvas was used less and less over time as everyone grew old, and was likely in storage once Verso became an adult, putting its world into stasis. Verso dies, then Aline retrieves the painting and delves within it. This activates the painting once more, making Francois begin waiting for Clea to return.

So my guess is that Aline played with her painted family/made the Luminerians 200+ years before the fracture.

Painters could also in theory 'time travel' when entering a painting. Many minutes surely passed in the real world, so while years may have passed within the canvas normally, she was able to reenter the painting upon finding it and only miss out on a couple days within the world by selecting exactly when to enter. Might explain why some parts of the story almost feel like time travel.

One would think that one reason Maelle doesn't want to leave the canvas is because resting for one day = years and years pass within the painting. But she never once brings up this concern to anyone, and so my conclusion is that a painting doesn't always stay active.