How do I change the face of my watch? I swipe down and I get "no notifications" but not the original face.

See the "How to switch the watch face on your Apple Watch" section in:

Change the watch face on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Assuming you have more than one Watch face set up - you must swipe left and right to change the installed watch faces.

To add/remove/edit Watch faces, you have to use the Watch app on the connected iPhone - can't do that from the Watch itself.