Big things are expected from an artist whose tiny paintings will soon hang at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly. "Up Close and Personal," an exhibit of more than 100 miniature works by Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda, opens Monday at the Carol Schlosberg Alumni Gallery and runs through April 9. This is the first professional show at Montserrat for Viejo Lopez de Roda, the college's 2005 valedictorian.

Viejo Lopez de Roda's small paintings average just 2 inches by 11/2 inches and stand in contrast to her large, acrylic portraits of friends and family members. Several of the portraits will also be on display in "Up Close and Personal." Viejo Lopez de Roda said her small paintings grew out of the creative process when she recycled scraps left over from a large collage.

"The miniatures are a completely different process than the larger paintings," said Viejo Lopez de Roda, 24, a native of northern Spain who attended boarding school in Dublin, Ireland, from age 11 to 18. "They're so small, they force you to have this intimacy."

Unlike her large, lifelike portraits, the miniatures often consist of distorted faces or bodies that spring to her mind.

"These are people that emerge, almost as if they take over and say, 'This is who I am,'" she said. "Some of them are very dark and a little weird and eerie, but I'm OK with that."

The miniatures, which she started about a year ago, consist of collages, drawings, paintings or a combination of the three. The edges are often torn, and the artist sometimes cuts the matboard into different shapes.

Many small paintings in "Up Close and Personal" will be clustered together, with images positioned to play off one another.

"They all have very unique personalities," Viejo Lopez de Roda said about the miniatures. "When they are placed in a group, sometimes it looks like they are fighting with each other or (other times) like they are best buddies."

Every miniature on display is one of a kind and will sell for just $40, a reasonable price for people who usually can't afford original artwork, she said.

"When you see someone who really loves your art but can't afford it, you almost want to give it away, but you can't because you have to make a living," she said.

Don't expect Viejo Lopez de Roda to stop painting small anytime soon.

"I keep on thinking I'm going to get bored with them or run out of ideas, but they keep on surprising me," she said.

Viejo Lopez de Roda left an impression on one Montserrat administrator.

"She's an inquisitive and extremely bright young woman," Laura Tonelli, Montserrat's academic dean, said of Viejo Lopez de Roda, whom she taught in art history and abroad, in Italy. "It's only appropriate that she be here showing, because she's the caliber of alumni we like to showcase on campus. She really represents the best of what a Montserrat education can do. ... She's gonna be somebody."

If you go

r What: "Up Close and Personal," paintings by Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda

r When: March 24 to April 9; opening reception, March 27, 6:30 to 8 p.m.

r Where: Montserrat College of Art's Carol Schlosberg Alumni Gallery, 23 Essex St., Beverly

r More information: www.catalinaviejo.com