[1] Paton spent his artistic career in London, where he is said to have been born, although no record of his birthplace or parentage is known.

Some critics have discerned an influence of Samuel Scott's works, and also of Charles Brooking.

According to an account by Harry Parker, in The Mariner's Mirror, March 1912, p. 85, while Paton was begging "on Tower Hill, he attracted the attention of Admiral Sir Charles Knowles (died 1777), who happened to be passing that way, and who, taking a fancy to the boy, offered to take him to sea".

Among his most well-known works is the Action Between the Serapis and Bonhomme Richard, depicting the confrontation of the British captain Richard Pearson and the American captain John Paul Jones, occurring on 23 September 1779, during the Battle of Flamborough Head off the Yorkshire coast.

It ended with an American victory; nevertheless, the painting achieved success when included among the prints published within a year of the battle, while the war was still going on, by James Fittler and Daniel Lerpinière.