Ralph,
Lovely piece!
I for one don't have any problem with a painting. Today, the only 'regret' I have about this thread is that it has "sketch" in its title, and not 'illustration' or some other more encompassing term.
There are some illustration techniques that better fulfill some people's passion than sketching. Painting is certainly one of them. It can help render ideas, emotions, even capture subtleties in ways a pencil cannot. After all, illustrations, as much as any other amateur form of imaging, are all a personal interpretation of an object.
Alex.