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Yes, well, glossing over the asymmetry in the face would be at some odds with a tradition here of my gently pistol whipping people into not representing anatomy as presumptively geometric and generic.
But in any event, the "mystery guest in the portrait" problem is not uncommon, being one that affects any self-portrait based on a single-mirror set-up. The hair is parted on the wrong side, the lazy left eye is on the right, the body jewelry plots an entirely different constellation. If there's an up side, perhaps it is that the artist finally has a representation that he thinks looks "right," instead of that backward image that has always shown up in photographs. (In 50 years I have never had a photographer show my "good" side, which is of course the one I favor in the mirror.)
As an aside, it was amusing to witness my instructor's attempts to critique my self-portrait in-progress. He couldn't just look at me for reference, because I was now flipped in life, and he couldn't practicably stand in exactly my spot and see me in the mirror as I was seeing myself. Life went on, and no animals were injured in the making of the picture.
I did think of mentioning the mirror-image factor, but didn't for several reasons clamoring for equal time, including that the Photoshop flip has as its sole purpose the reversal of the image so it didn't seem necessary to say so, I usually overstate things ad nauseam and thought this time to pass on the opportunity (perhaps an oversight, in retrospect), and I know from experience that most artists will make their own decisions and proceed accordingly despite advices otherwise (I know this because such advices are rarely evidenced in later stages, which of course is the artist's prerogative.)
But you're right, I gave the idea only a 1-1/2-star rating, not so much because of the mirror-image problem per se, but because I personally would not want to be painted into the corner of being unable to have the subject sit for me again if need be, an opportunity foregone for practical purposes by working from a photographic representation I could not re-create in real life. I would re-shoot the reference photo, but experience further tells me that there is most often resistance to this advice.
It's all just brainstorming. Not all synapses fire all the time.
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