I've studied some of the work of Thomas Kinkade. He not only uses light versus dark to achieve contrast, but he effectively uses complimentary colors in the darker fields of pigment around his 'glowing' lights for MAXIMUM contrast. To understand why a color seems to 'glow', don't just look at that color; you must look at the colors around it. (study Josef Albers-"Interaction of Color"). Also pay close attention to the gradation he uses between his warm 'glowing' lights and the darker complimentary fields around them.

(dark cool compliment>>>light warm glowing gradation>>>lightest compliment of glowing gradation to add vibrance.)

(dark blue-violet>>>light warm red-orange-yellow gradation>>>white tinted with blue-violet for lightest lights)
Another interesting effect is the figures that are 'backlit' by his 'glowing' lights. Those figures are made up of cool muted compliments.