Natural vs. Synthetic Earth Colors

[Gigalot]

I have a Russian Raw Umber paint tube which brand name is " Raw umber from Leningrad". Actually, it contains 3 different pigments:
1) synthetic Mars Brown - Pbr7
2) Glauconite green earth - PG23
3) natural Feodosian brown earth Pbr6?

Yellow ochers manufactured in St. Petersburg artists paints factory said to be natural because they have a large natural ocher deposit which is not depleted and their natural ocher today are less expensive than synthetic product.
But Burnt Sienna seems to be synthetic paint.

[karenlee]

One of the differences beteen natural pigments and synthetic pigments is cost. I have no doubt that synthetic pigments have replaced natural pigments solely for this reason--synthetics are cheaper. Natural pigments have pretty much disappeared from the standard paint lines-- you know what those are.

However, Daniel Smith is bringing mineral colors back to the market in their Primatek line. I have very much enjoyed using Primatek paints.
Marigold if you want natural pigments, this is the place to start:

http://www.danielsmith.com/Item--i-G-284-600P

There is also Rublev Natural Pigments, which sells both natural and synthetic pigments:

http://www.naturalpigments.com/rublev_pigment.asp

Closer to you is Kremer Pigmente, one of the very best sources for pigments:
http://kremer-pigmente.de/en

(And then there's my latest methods, finding rocks and pulverizing them into pigments!)

[Jeremy Bryant]

To be honest, it's quite hard to tell. But it depends on you, on what you're going for. Most of the time I would go for natural but in this case I think synthetic has the advantage.

[Marigold]

Thanks all! I have brought back from Florence a selection of earth colors from different Brands, Maimeri Puro, Michael Harding, and the Maimery Natural Italian earths series. I am looking forward to testing them and comparing to the synthetic earths that I already own.

Susanne