JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<textarea id="mytextarea"></textarea>

CSS

#mytextarea {
    width:300px;
    height:200px;
    border:1px solid #000;
    background:url('http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/2853/writeus.gif') center no-repeat;
}
#mytextarea:focus {
    background:none;
}

JavaScript

function init(text) {
    text.data('img', text.css('background'));
    
    var update = function() {
        if(text.val() == '') {
            text.css('background', text.data('img'));
        }
        else {
            text.css('background', 'none');
        }
    };

    text.focus(update);
    text.blur(update);

    update();
}

init($('textarea'));