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FYI, the trailer for the documentary at the bottom of this article has a clip that makes it clearer what exactly he does with the mirror to help him paint photo-realistically. It wasn't super clear to me until seeing that.

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I'm guessing a mirror pointed at the subject over one eye with the other eye looking at the blank canvas? Then it would just be a matter of filling in paint on the canvas where it should match up with the original.

Oh interesting. That may be it. I wasn't sure whether he was actively using both eyes that way, or if he was tilting the mirror in and out while painting. I think it's probably hard to sort out how well it would work without trying it yourself.

No, the mirror is on a stick and doesn't move. When Tim is looking down at the mirror from above he can see the reflected image he wants to paint, and also the paint surface he is going to paint on. He keeps adding color until the edge of the mirror disappears at which point he knows that he got the color on the surface to match the color in real life.

Here's a screenshot. The mirror is on the top, and the painting surface is below: http://i.imgur.com/Uk7vSQ5.png

Or on the painting of his father-in-law: http://i.imgur.com/WP2ls3A.png

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