A painter and survey sketch artist, George Frost began drawing when he was serving in the Civil War. Up to that time, he had had little time to pursue his artistic talent. At age eleven he left school and went to work on a farm. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted and served for more than two years.

During these years he must have practiced his art for, by his mid-30s, he joined Colonel Pope's division of the Western Union surveying party to British Columbia for which he produced sketches. In 1866, he was assigned to Asia for the same purpose. He studied in Germany from 1874 to 1876, and then for the next ten years had a studio in North Cambridge, Massachusetts and, according to historian Edan Hughes, also lived part time in San Francisco between 1872 and 1889. In 1874, he exhibited at the San Francisco Art Association.

In 1885 he accompanied George Kennan to Siberia to record the life of Russian exiles.

For many years, Frost had a summer home in Brownfield, Maine, near the Conway area of New Hampshire, and painted many scenes along the Saco.

He was a member of the Boston Art Club. His last known address was Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Sources include:
Peter Falk (editor), Who Was Who in American Art
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940