souvenirs from St Petersburg

Good quality cheap prints can be purchased at the Hermitage gift shop. Peterhof and Catherine Palace shops also offer authentic licensed folk arts and crafts. I would be wary of making large purchases from street vendors.

I would be looking for small works of street scenes like you can find all over Paris and Rome. They don't have something like that there?

I wouldn't bring back cheap souvenirs for women this age, I'd be looking for some pretty amber necklace or earrings -- something that doesn't gather dust in a drawer as most 'souvenirs' do.

I don't remember street artists so much in St. Petersburg (remember, for much of the year, the weather is not conducive to being outdoors for long periods). They probably are outside the major tourist sights like the Hermitage and the Church on the Spilled Blood.

But I'd look for better stuff in the museums. In addition to the Hermitage, the Russia Museum has not only amazing paintings in its collection, but also a very nice gift shop with some good reproductions (posters, cards, etc).

Amber is a great idea. Another traditional jewelry idea is silver jewelry from Kubachi, Dagestan (they used to have a boutique storefront in a mall at Dostoevskaya metro.
And - just saying - there is an Alrosa store not far from Moskovskiy train station.

All I really want is a hand painted 4x6 (or so) piece that I can buy from a local artist. Usually they sell them on the streets. I bring them for my girls on all my trips and they collect them in frames on their walls. Is there none of that there?

I know this isn't what you want, but others might like the handmade bear ir ballerina ornaments sold at the Hermitage. They are made at the Mariinsky theater and are bery lovely. We bought some bears as gifts and they were very well received.

There is an 'artists' market on Nevsky Prospect 32 or so outside one of the churches. I don't know if they have small paintings like you are looking for but it is a place to start.